


From Heaven

by mizufallsfromkumo



Category: Common Law
Genre: Alternate Universe - Religious, Car Accidents, Fallen Angel!Wes, M/M, Priest!Travis, Religious Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-05 15:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizufallsfromkumo/pseuds/mizufallsfromkumo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Father Travis Marks has been the Pastor of St. Anthony's Church for the past four years without too many events happening.  However when a near death experience turns out to a miracle, he finds his world starting to turn on its side.  Especially after a strange man with wings tattooed on his back and a nasty scar on his side takes shelter in the church during the storm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I started a new AU someone send help. But I feel like every fandom needs something like this at some point and I've been getting into Supernatural and stuff like that. It really isn't helping my ideas.
> 
> So, I tried to make this as generically Christian as I could, but I have a feeling its going to lean a lot more towards the Catholic side of things because that's what I know. So sorry if that bothers you a bit, I'll try to keep as general as possible, which will probably be a lot harder than people might think. This is my warning to be that there might be religious themes involved in this, but they will probably be dealt in a similar manner that Supernatural deals with them, they just kind of push them under the rug. (Pretty sure at some point my views will wiggle in there as well).
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

When Travis Marks first came to St. Anthony’s Church as its new pastor, it was in a sorry state.  The parish community was weak, hardly had enough people to keep it up and running (save Palm Sunday, Easter, and Christmas masses).  Out of the people who were there, half of them were divided into groups that just hated each other to core.  The parish couldn’t keep a priest for more than a year, every single one was more than ready to jump off the sinking ship the moment they could.  The building was almost threatening to fall apart on top of every one.  The architecture was old, dating back to at least the Roaring Twenties, but no one had been up keeping it because there were more pressing bills than attempting to fix the place.  Foreclosure was looming over head as well, but with the financials all out of whack, it wasn’t a surprise.  Numbers weren’t adding up correctly, and there just wasn’t enough going around.   However, that was four years ago.

Travis had had his work cut out for him, and he blew it all out of the park.  He took everything head on.  He boosted the morale of the parish, and attendance at the masses practically doubled within first month of his time there.  He formed ministries that quickly attracted people and made them care about the place around them.  They managed to rope in the financial problems over the course of six months, and officially waved off the foreclosure threats.  Up keep on the building increased, and after a year is didn’t look like it was going to fall apart too bad.  However, by the end of the year, the parish had more than enough people and money to help fuel a renovation of the church; it took two years before it was finally complete.  St. Anthony’s parish finally got the attention it desperately need.

There had been countless offers for him to leave and help improve other places, but Travis declined them all, because he wasn’t about to abandoned the place.  Having grown up in Foster Care, Travis could more than relate to the members of the parish.

His story wasn’t a pretty one, but he was open about his life.  He had been left on a doorstep of a fire station as a baby.  He had a dizzying number of foster homes, and he could think of seven homes that actually really seemed to care about him.  Travis had struggled with the rights and wrongs of the world, and he had been on the other side of jail cell.  However, it had been his last Foster mother, Maria, who had saved him from his falling graces.  She had been a religious woman, and though she didn’t force any of the children in her care to be like her, but there was just something that spoke to Travis.  Before he knew it, he was in a seminary, and then being ordained.  It wasn’t where he expected his life to go when he was sixteen and out to sleep with anything that wanted him for the night, but he was happy with it.

Of course, it wasn’t just his life story and hard work that attracted people.  Travis looked young for his age, and his blue eyes had done people in since the moment he was born.  His smile was blinding.   Travis kept the shadow of a beard he could more than grow if he wanted to.  He was more than aware than his captured the attention of some of the woman of parish, he’s heard the whispers about how it was a shame that he was a man of the cloth.

At the age of 38, Father Travis Marks ran a continually growing parish and about 24 ministries with one other priest.  Travis had a positive influence on the community around the church.  There had been threats from it, but Travis handled them all well enough, and there was no slowing down for him.  So far, St. Anthony’s seemed to be the beginning of the peak of his abilities and success. 

Yet, that threatened to change one rainy Thursday evening.

Travis had gone to a dinner a family invited him to after a funeral.  He had agreed to going without thinking twice, and the dinner was lovely.  He hadn’t had food so good since he left Maggie’s care when he was twelve.  He had left with a container of left overs and gave the family a good night blessing before he left.  Ducking into Father Sutton’s car, he was reminded he needed to seriously thank the older clergyman for letting him borrow the car.    Travis would be soaked to the bone by the time he returned to the church and his home.

He flicked the radio on, listening to the news half-heartedly as he drove along the road.  The rain pattered down on the windshield harshly.  Travis couldn’t help but slow down, cursing the wipers for doing a crappy job, but at least he could still see what was in front of him, and at least he was getting mostly green lights.  A loud honk reached his ears only a split second before the feeling of something colliding with the car.

The impact made the car roll, and everything just seemed to happen so fast.  A sharp pain tore into his side and into his left leg, and the air bag seemed to deploy a bit too late.  He knew the seatbelt was biting into his chest, and there were countless snaps that couldn’t be good.  The car, eventually stopped rolling, thankfully landing up right.

Travis just groaned at the soreness that washed over him, his right hand moving to tear something out of his side.  He curses as he felt something warm just racing down his body.  He could smell copper and crushed metal, and there was definitely the taste of blood on his tongue.  He glanced down at himself, but his mind doesn’t register what he body looked like, and he just gave up trying to see and dropped his head back against the seat, gasping for breath painfully.  He listens to the patter of the rain on the car and he wondered if this was the end of him.

Something sounded to his right and he turned to inspect it.  He finds himself, face to face with a man in a suit, his mind failed to notice anything else about him.  The man doesn’t say anything to him, and Travis doesn’t have the strength to gasp or say anything.  The man reached out, and Travis slide his eyes close as the man’s hand neared his face.

Fingertips brush his forehead and a heat fills Travis body, but it’s accompanied by a comforting light behind his eyelids.  Travis just figured this was heaven, and let it all fade away.


	2. With A Million Voices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travis wakes up in a hospital and discovers the miracle, only to learn what was suppose to happen in the accident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a while, but I finally sat down and wrote this. Sorry, school decided that everything had to be due at similar times. But now its all good for a while I think, so I can chill. I feel like this is a bit like bits and pieces but I think it all works!
> 
> Just got to worry about Easter!

Travis found himself coming to in a hospital, which honestly thought was a little weird for heaven.  He had figured it was an endless paradise or at least a place where he could cuddle up and feel safe and wanted.  Not a place where tragedy usually filled the air in the annoying beeping of machines.  To be fair though, not a lot of people went to heaven and came back, so for all Travis knew this could be how heaven greeted people, hooked them up to machines and tied them down with wires and tubes.

He glanced around the room briefly.  From what he could see, it was shared room, and he was on the bed closest to the door and the other was empty.  There was a whiteboard on the wall across from the foot of the hospital bed.  A name was written on there in handwriting that was clearly a male’s, and Travis didn’t really try to read it too much.  The room otherwise was the usual bare hospital rooms Travis had given countless people their last blessing in.  TV in the corner, a small mutter of announcements over the hospital intercom, and maybe just all around not heaven.

With a shrug, Travis moved to sit up.  He half expects a pain to shut of his side, but there was really nothing more than a dull ache and a small cracking in his neck, probably from the bed.  He managed to sit up perfectly fine on his own, and he can’t help but find it a bit odd, seeing as how the last thing he remembered was a blaring horn in his ear and horrible pain tearing through his body.  Then there was the light and the heat.  Maybe he was dead.   He can’t help but glance down his body and look at his hands.

A joyful breathless laugh from the door way causes Travis to look up.  Father Sutton is standing in the door with a wide grin on his chubby old face and a coffee in his hand.  “Thank God, you woke up.”  He said still beaming as he walked into the room and towards Travis.

Travis can’t help but grin at the man a bit uneasily.  Father Mike Sutton was the other priest in the parish.  His hair was thinning, and he was a bit rounder than others in the parish.  He had come to St. Anthony’s about a year after Travis, and helped whip some more things into shape.  He had joined the marines when he was younger, before joining the clergy when he felt God calling him to a different life.  He was a hard looking man, but he was honestly nothing more than a giant teddy bear, with a voice that sounded like at some point he drank and smoked too much in his life.  Still, he and Travis had hit it off almost from the beginning.  In fact it was Travis who had coined the nickname Cap for the older man.

“Am I dead?”  Travis asked before he could think of anything else to say.

The older priest blinked at him for a moment, placing his coffee on the table to the left of Travis’ bed.  For a moment, Travis feared the worse, but then Mike let out a loud laugh.  “No, you’re not, and it’s a miracle you not.”  He said putting a hand on his shoulder.   “The whole event just seemed like a miracle.”

“What do you mean?”  Travis asked slowly, searching the other priests face for something.

“You were involved in a hit and run, and from the state of my car it was a nasty one.” Mike said easing back into a chair by Travis’ bed.  “Looked like they t-boned you hard, and sent the whole car rolling.  Police think it was a drunk driver, and they’re looking for a car to match the description a witness gave them.”  Slowly, Travis found he could recall what happened during the accident, he remembered the pain in his side and in his leg, and how his head pounded heavily. 

“And how exactly is that a miracle?”  Travis asked slowly.

Father Sutton just smiled at him.  “Travis, the car’s basically destroyed; they tore the thing apart just to get to you.”  Sutton said while he made while gestures with his hand  “When they finally got to you, and pulled you out, they said it was like you were just sleeping, not a single cut on you, even though your clothes were torn and covered in blood.”  Travis just blinked at the new information.  “And that’s not even mentioning the blood in the car.  They couldn’t believe it was yours, but you were the only one in the car.”

Suddenly there was the image of the man in the suit sitting beside him flashed in his mind.  From what he remembers, the man had not been in his car before the car, and it didn’t look like he had been in it during the accident.  People just didn’t magically appear and disappear. 

“There wasn’t a man in a suit at all?”  Travis asked.  Sutton raised an eyebrow at him.  He shook his head and left the silent question of why hanging in the air.  “I remembered a man in a suit next to me when the car stopped rolling.”  Mike made a curious sound.  “He reached out to touch me, then there was a blinding light, and I woke up here.”

Father Sutton just smiled.  “Told you this whole thing was a miracle, Father Travis.”

* * *

Travis was released from the hospital a few hours after he woke up.  Sutton brought him a change of clerical clothes to change into.   The place had no reason to keep him what so ever, because there was literally _nothing_ wrong with him.  If there was anything wrong with him, it was the fact that he was a bit dazed at all the sudden attention he was getting from some of the more religious staff members and elderly people. 

He managed to meet the witness who reported his accident.  She was a short college girl, barely in her early twenties, and had a bright look in her eyes.  The accident had shaken her up quite a bit, having been just some ways behind Travis and then see a truck come shooting out of now where, Travis was a bit impressed she didn’t get in an accident herself.  The poor girl’s clothes were a still a bit damp when Travis met her.  She had waited around in the rain for the police and ambulances, she had been there when they pulled him out, but she still refused to leave the hospital until she knew Travis was completely okay, and apparently she had to hear it from him as well.  She seemed relieved when she was talking to him.

“You didn’t see a man in a suit in the car at all?”  Travis asked her gently as Sutton finished signing some paperwork and went to get the car.

The girl paused for a moment and just started at him.  “I thought…you saw him too?”  Travis nodded in replay.  She bit her lip a moment before she said anything.  “I…he wasn’t in the car when I saw him, he was standing the rain staring at your car.  I figured he was in shock of something of what he just witnessed, but when I asked him to help me, it was like he vanished.”

“Wait he was outside the car.”  Travis asked and the girl nodded slowly, “Did you see him in the car at all?”

“No, it was just you in there passed out.”

“Did you see what he looked like?”

The girl nodded eagerly.  “He wore a somewhat expensive looking suit with a shiny tie, blonde hair, and the most emotionless face I think I’ve ever seen.”  She said before Sutton pulled up in the car.  Father Travis just nodded and slide in the car with a very simple thank you.

Father Sutton drove them home in a rent-a-car, and there wasn’t too much trouble.  Half the parish was there waiting for him to returned, all with rather worried looks on their faces.  However they were all joyful to know Travis was completely fine and there wasn’t a scratch on him.  Countless older women muttered about how he had an angel clearly watching over him so he could continue to do God’s good work.  Travis just smiled and nodded, and allowed some of the people to fuse over him, before he sent them off with a prayer and blessing, before he collapsed on his bed as Father Sutton chuckled at him.

“It will be worse tomorrow.”  Sutton had before he retired to his room.

Sutton’s prediction proved to be right.  Apparently, Travis miracle made practically every news channel, and it was mentioned briefly on a few national networks well.  News vans crowded around the church, and the daily morning Mass was flooded with people.  Half being the usual parish, a quarter being some newly interested people, and the remain quarter seemed to the press. 

Father Travis was approached by countless people throughout the day, and he was seriously drowning in the attention.  This had been something he might have longed for as a child, but he didn’t want it now, it was distracting and frustrated.  People asked him what happened, and he told them, half of them seemed to believe it, and the other half tried to make it out to be luck.  Travis didn’t really care what they thought, as long as they stopped asking him about it, because as far has was concerned something Godly happened to him.   He assured the parish countless times that he wouldn’t change, if anything he would just become close to God and that was it.

After a week the media attention died down, and it took a month for the number of parish members to dribble back down to its usual size.  Still, St. Anthony’s grew under the light of Travis’ miracle, getting some rather nice attention from the community, both from the diesis and the city.   It was nice, but it was also tiring.  Travis was happy when thing started turning back to normal.

* * *

When Travis was nine, his foster parents, Ellen and Roger Williams, took him and his foster siblings to the coast for the weekend.  They rented out a house and bought new swimwear, beach toys, and matching shirts.  His siblings and him ran around on the beach all day, they watched the sun drop completely beyond the horizon, and passed out everywhere but their beds.  They ignored Ellen urging them to but on sunscreen and few paid the painful price.  It was the first real “family” vacation Travis had ever been on.  It was one of his fondest memories even though Ellen and Roger filed for a divorce a month later and social services split everyone up.

Travis dreamed about it years after it had come and gone, and he dreamed about it often.  He remembered the sound of the ocean perfectly, and the warm feel of the sand under his feet.  Soft oranges and pinks hung in the sky, painting across the sky in a way words couldn’t even being to describe.  He smiled as the ocean breeze hit him with the smell of salt and adventure.  There was the sound of his siblings playing in the distance, laughing loudly with each other and screaming happily. 

He turned to watch them playing, but found there was nothing there but the beach house the family rented and miles and miles of empty beach.  It wasn’t his usual dream, and he looked down to find himself in his black slacks and black tab shirt.  Confused, he can’t help but feel his stomach feel a bit with dread.  This was one of the few good dreams he still had; he did not want it ruined.

“Travis,” A voice said behind him, and he whipped around to find a blonde man with a hard, guarded face standing just a yard away.  The man looked like he was somewhere around his mid-thirties, and he was dressed in a simple black suit with a white button up shirt, but no tie.  “You need to relax, nothing is happening to this memory, I just suspended some details.”

“I’m sorry, you _what_?”  Travis snapped, blinking at the man.

“I suspended some details,” The man repeated without missing a beat.  “I needed to talk to you;   this seemed like the only logic safe place where they wouldn’t immediately find me.  Everything is still in place, so you can relax.”

“You need to talk to me?”  The man simply nodded, but there seemed to be a bit of a confused look in his eyes.  “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“It’s not important.”

“No, I think it’s kind of important” Travis snapped, causing the man to pull back a bit in surprise.  “And what do you mean ‘where they won’t find you’?”

“Who I am is not important right now, neither is who is following me.”  The man said firmly, quickly glancing around like he sensed something.  Travis couldn’t help but look around, but all he saw was beach and sunset.  “I don’t have much time.”  Travis groaned a bit, wishing the man would just get to the point already.  The man raised an eyebrow and gave him a bit of a look before he continued.  “You were supposed to be crippled in that accident a month ago.”

“Then why wasn’t I?”  Travis asked, taking a step back from the man.

“Because I went against orders,” The man said blankly.   “I was ordered to make sure you stayed alive, but I healed you completely.”

There was the sound of thunder in the distance, and the man’s face immediately flooded with worry.  Travis turned and he could see a darkening cloud approaching quickly from over the ocean.

“You were the man in the suit I saw?”  Travis asked as the wind suddenly picked up.

The man nodded, but then shook his head, keeping his pale blue eyes on the quickly approaching storm.  He took a step closer to Travis as he talked.  “It was me, but Joan and you saw my vessel.”  Travis turned to the man and gave him a confused look, and if the man actually showed some emotion, Travis was sure he would have rolled his eyes.  “The girl who called about the accident.” 

Thunder boomed loudly over their heads, and the wind picked up drastically.  It whipped around the sand and seemed to push Travis back.  He could feel the sand shifting under his feet as he struggled to keep the sand out of his face.  The man just stood there calmly in the middle of it all, just staring up at the cloud.

“Why are you telling me this?”  Travis yelled over the wind and angry thunder.

The man tore his eyes away from the cloud and looked straight at Travis.  “Because I’m going to Fall.”

A loud crack tore through the air, and a blinding flash of lightning struck the man directly.  Travis shielded his eyes and gave a bit of a shout, as the thunder roared angrily and the wind whipped at his clothes.  Then suddenly it all stopped and there was calmness on the beach.  Laughter from his faster siblings rang clear through the air like nothing had happened.  Slowly Travis peeked out from behind his arms and finding the beach was as it always was in his dream, foster siblings running around included.  However the man was nowhere in sight.

Travis woke up with a gasp and found himself covered in a cold sweat.

* * *

_He’s immediately tied down the moment they apprehend him, and tightly too.  They pulled till the ropes tore into his skin.  They tortured him, cut into him and watch it heal in a matter of minutes only to repeat the process again, desperate to get him to confess to his sins.  However he was a soldier, he was created to take things like this and refuses to budge. Occasionally, they would offer him a trail, but he always declined knowing they would turn his words against him.   Still, he could only take so much before they broke him, and he confessed._

_Once he confessed they found the dullest blade, called for everyone to gather around, and publicly cut into his side.  They didn’t attempt to suppress his screams, as they did so.   Some of the spectators turned away, and others watched in pity, but no one did anything, they didn’t want to join him in his fate.  When the cut was large enough the pulled at the ends and reached in.  Hooked into it, and with a sharp pull ripped it out of him._

_He’d never experienced a pain so horrible in his life.  He lay panting on the floor, gripping at the floor for a way to ease it all.  They let him bleed out for a bit, before someone came to clean the wound and stitch him up.  They made an example of him before they pushed him over the edge and watched him fall._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, there's finally some Wes actually being mentioned. I made Mike Ross his vessel because I'm the writer and I can. Also, Wes will actually have an angel sort of name, but its made up so don't go looking it up cause you won't find anything.
> 
> The angels in this story or loosely based off of Supernatural's angels. However my idea of a Fallen Angel is a bit different from most ideas I think. I don't know, I think the idea is cool.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed.


	3. Truth has Fallen Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a raging storm outside, and mysterious man on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry this took so long. My aunt got married this weekend and my professors slammed me with projects. Finals week only a few days away. So that means slight more time write, but also not. I got a shit ton of stuff I need to do.

_GR-ACK!_

 

Travis couldn’t help but look up at the sanctuary ceiling as the sky sounded like it was being torn open above him.  It was an old habit Travis had from when the ceiling of the church use to leak.  There had been the soft patter of rain for the last fifteen minutes, only picking up every so often to just slow down again, and it had been overcast most of the day.  However, after the loud crack of thunder, it seemed like the heavens opened the flood gates.  Looking around, the sanctuary was empty aside from him.  He glanced down at his watch, and smiled to himself when he was it was past eight.  The ministries usually wrapped around 7:30 on the weekdays, so for the most part everyone should be home, or Travis hoped no one was driving in this weather.  After his accident he didn’t even want to think people chanced such weather like it was nothing.

 

Light flashed brightly behind the few stain glass windows the Church had, and there was another loud clap of thunder.   Something about it made him remember the dream he had with the odd man on the beach.  It had been three days since the dream, and the man hadn’t returned to his dreams at all, nor had the thunderous cloud that had struck the man out of existence.  He didn’t know what to make of it, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to tell Sutton about it, so he hadn’t. 

 

With a shake of his head, Travis turned his attention back to preparing the sanctuary for the next day of ceremonies.  Sutton had two morning daily masses, and Travis had a funeral at noon, then at around four some people were coming to set up for a wedding and another priest was coming in for that.  It wasn’t too busy, but Travis liked to make sure mostly everything was ready so he wasn’t rushing around, or worse Sutton wasn’t waking him up at some God forsaken hour demanding to know where something was.

 

“It sounds like it’s really coming down out there.”  The accented voice said as Travis registered the sound of one of the hallway doors opening. 

 

He knew the voice instantly.  It was Dr. Emma Ryan, a member of the parish for three years now, having come there after quieting her high end psychology job in the city.  Now she helped with most of the ministries that required counseling of some kind, her along with Father Sutton.   She also used some of the rooms to hold couples therapy groups as well.  Travis turned to see both Dr. Ryan and Father Sutton entering through a doorway that lead to some of the spare rooms the church had.  Sutton made a sound at her comment.

 

“It just started too.”  Travis said with a smile, as he walked off the alter her to talk with the two of them.  “If you were looking for a window to go home in, I think you just missed it, Emma.”  Travis couldn’t help but feel a little weird when he called her Emma, seeing as how mostly everyone else called her Dr. Ryan.  However she had insisted that outside of sessions, and depending on the situation in some, Travis and Mike call her Emma.  It was odd, for the first few weeks, but eventually it caught on enough, but Travis still feels like he should call her Dr. Ryan from time to time in casual conversation.  She just had the vibe to her.

 

“That’s what I get for staying behind to talk to Father Sutton for a few moments.”  She said smiling in greeting at Travis.  Travis raised an eyebrow like he was shocked, when he knew full well a few moments with the Cap could turn into thirty minutes in no time.  Mike shot him a hard look and Travis couldn’t help but laugh.  “Well it was a delightful conversation anyway.”  Emma added in as she watched the exchanged between the two.

 

“As always,” Mike said with a happy smile.  “You always have some wonderful things to say.  I really think you made a breakthrough with Robbie today.”  Travis knew Robbie was a kid in of the recovery groups Dr. Ryan helped lead, but he wasn’t going to press to see what the breakthrough was.  He figured at some point the kid would come up to him like they usually did when they had their lives a bit more in order, or things were falling apart.

 

“Well I’ll find out next time I see him if it was truly as big as you say.”  Emma said, pushing some hair behind her ears before glancing down at her watch.  “Shoot, I didn’t realize it was so late.”  She sighed, readjusting her purse on her shoulder.

 

“It’s not that late, Emma,” Travis cut in, holding his hand out slightly as if to stop her from leaving.  “I’m sure it will pass over in a few moments and be back to the drizzle it was earlier.”

 

A loud crack of thunder tore through the sky, causing the lights to flicker a bit, as if to back Travis’ unsaid question.  Emma glanced up at the ceiling.  She looked like she was going to say something witty before another batch of thunder rolled through.  The wind even howled slightly, causing some of the rain to bash into the windows harshly.

 

“I don’t think I was going to chance it to begin with Father.”  She said with a smile as she turned to look at Travis.  “And not just because the idea of driving in this weather has you a bit jumpy.  It sounds like a monsoon out there, I’m quite sure Robert will understand.”  Travis can’t help but give her a wide smile.

 

Mike made a sound at the comment.  “Well, I don’t think it will last more than thirty minutes.”  He started, shoving his hands into his pockets and grinning.  “Why don’t we go to my office and have a nice cup of tea or a cup of coffee?  Travis if you’re done preparing for tomorrow, you can join us.”  Emma nodded at the offer; Travis rolled his eyes but started towards the older priest’s office anyway.

 

Sutton was being to ramble on about how he had discovered this fabulous new tea blend, when one of the churches main oak doors opened.  Lighting flashed brightly, silhouetting a figure almost leaning on the door, and the thunder seemed to shake the whole church.  It felt like a scene from a horror movie Travis use to watch as a kid when he wasn’t supposed to.   Even the lights flicked a bit and Emma gasped slightly beside him.  It was the type of scene were everything’s about to hit the fan because the murder just waltzed in the doorway and they were more blood thirsty than ever.  However instead of slowly staggering forward in the usual intimidating manner, the figure just fell forward, the dead weight of their body keeping the door open.

 

It took everyone a second to register what happened, before they sprang into action.  Travis barreled down the aisle of pews and towards the door, leaving Emma and Sutton to follow after him.  When he reached the person on the floor he found it was a blonde man about his height.  He was wearing black slacks and a white button up shirt that had practically become see-through from the rain.  Travis couldn’t help but notice the dark lines of something tattooed on his shoulder blades and flaring out onto the back of his arms.  He flipped the man over and he felt the world turn for a moment.

 

Travis didn’t even take any notice of the rain that was hitting him as the wind batted it in, he just stared.  Before him was the man from his dream.  Same blonde hair, same hard features on his face, same everything Travis could remember.  Maybe it was just chance. 

 

The pastor hurried out of his shock, it wasn’t the time to freaking out over the fact that the man before him looked pretty much identical to the man form his dream.  Travis heaved the man out of the way of the door and the rain, not once cringing as the door slammed loudly.  He immediately pressed to fingers to the man’s neck to feel for a pulse, grinning when he found a strong one, and slightly ignoring the feverish heat to the man’s skin.  He leaned over the man, hovering his ear of the man’s mouth and watching his chest rise and fall.  Well at least he was breathing, had a strong pulse, and didn’t smell like alcohol.

 

“He’s breathing,” Travis said as he heard Emma’s heels hurry towards him.

 

She kneeled beside Travis, gently touching the man.  “Bloody hell, he’s burning up.”  She commented quickly before reaching around Travis to slap one of the man’s cheeks.  “Come on wake up.”  She cursed under her breath when the man just continued to be unresponsive before digging into her purse.  Mike seemed to hover over them worriedly.  Travis shook the man slightly while she dug around.  She made a sound like she found something. 

 

Travis didn’t have time to look to see what it was, because she was waving it under the man’s nose.  Both watched intently for thirty seconds before the man’s eyes flew opened and he sort of gasped awake.   He groaned, putting a hand to his head.  Travis fought the urge to ask why Emma had something so handy in her purse; he focused on the man instead.

 

“Welcome back to the world of the living.”  Travis said with a grin and a cheery chuckle, even though the man’s eyes were the same pale blue Travis remembered from the dream.  The man lifted his head and looked at him funny for a moment.  “If you would have been out a second longer, I think Father Sutton would have ran to get the oils for the blessing of the sick.” 

 

The man dropped his head back on the ground with a bit of grunt. 

 

* * *

 

The rain didn’t return to a study, easy, drizzle till at least three in the morning.  Emma had thankfully given up on going home at around eleven, slept in the extra room in the Rectory when she turned in for the night.  Travis was sure she wouldn’t have gone home even if it had stopped raining, not with their mysterious rain man lying around.  The man hadn’t had any identification, and he wasn’t open about what happened to him, so Travis figured the poor soul got jumped and was left in the storm.

 

The three of them were able to get the man to his feet easy enough.  He staggered a bit here and there, and Travis kept a loose hold on his elbow so he didn’t just topple over again.  Travis couldn’t help but notice how he curled in on himself a bit, like someone used his stomach as a punching bag, and that was also ignoring the way his white shirt clung to his skin.  Sutton hurried ahead for a moment only to return with a blanket when they realized the man was shivering like crazy.  He clung to the blanket till it seemed his knuckles were white.  His shiver calmed down after a few moments, and he gave Sutton a small smile of thanks.  

 

Walking to the Rectory was rather uneventful.  The man was on slightly more stable footing with each step, and he didn’t seem up for talking much.  He did a lot more glaring and blank looks, maybe some slightly body language, as he means of communication, but no actual words.  Sutton quickly left to turn the shower on, while Emma poured the man a glass of water.  The man took the cup from Emma almost shyly; before he downed the think like he hadn’t had a drop of water in days.  Travis couldn’t help but stare at the man was he placed the glass back on the counter with only three drops of water that had refused to leave the cup.

 

Sutton emerge when the show was ready, the man followed after like a duckling when Sutton took him to the shower.  They man stripped his wet clothes, folding them and placing them outside the bathroom door in a neat little pile for someone to put in the wash.  Travis rolled his eyes when he delivered the man some of his spare recreation clothes to wear when he heard the shower turn off after fifteen minutes.  He tapped on the door and waiting for the man to open the door.  The man opened the door almost instantly, with the towel wrapped only around his waist, still sort of peeking through the opening however.  Travis smiled and offered him the clothes while giving him a sort of quick look over.  The man looked completely fine, save an upside down v shaped scar that looked like it had been quickly stitched together but someone who half cared on the man’s left side.  From the reflection from the mirror, Travis could see clearly the tattoos on his shoulders were wing like, with super detailed feathers spreading and stretching out.   The man gave him a sort of blank, slightly pained look before he took the clothes from Travis hands, and immediately closed the door.

 

He emerged a few moments later and downed another glass of water like there was no tomorrow.   He picked at the food Mike made for him when his stomach had growled embarrassing loud, but he still ate everything in what seemed like less than five minutes.  Emma was still attempting to get him to talk, and while he finally started using words, his answers were short and uninformative, and most of the time it seemed like one word.   Travis was slightly amazed at how well he seemed to avoid some of the rather important questions Emma and the others asked him.

 

After an hour it became clear that the man was making a huge effort to keep his eyes open.  Travis got him a spare pillow and the man passed out on the couch, and hadn’t moved since.  Emma, Mike, and Travis all took shifts watching him just in case something was seriously wrong with him that he wasn’t telling them. 

 

Both Emma and Father Sutton had turned in for the night.  Emma was going to head out before seven if the weather allowed it, and it seemed like it would.  Mike had a mass in the morning, and figured it would help the parish if he was falling asleep on the alter.  Travis didn’t mind staying up to watch over the man.  It allowed him to listen to the raging storm and see if he could find something about the man that was different from the man in his dream, and Travis found he wasn’t coming up with anything.   When the man had been awake, Travis couldn’t shake the feeling like he was slightly running from something, which bothered Travis more than he was letting on.  Emma had made a comment about something similar when the man passed out, but neither Travis nor Mike talked about too much.

 

When the storm stopped raging at around three the morning, ending with loud cracks of thunder rolling off into the distance.  Travis let out a breath of relief when the simple rainfall continued falling.  The freak storm was surely going to be the news all morning. 

 

The couch creaked beside him, and Travis turned to see the man sitting up on the couch, looking like he was looking what was surrounding him.   He was completely rigid; however, he slowly seemed to visibly relax.  Travis watched him for a few seconds, wondering if he man was awake or sleeping walking.  Suddenly the man turned to him sharply, staring at him a bit wide eyed.

 

“Everything okay?”  Travis asked cautiously.

 

A few moments pasted before the man nodded and answered, “Currently it seems that way.”

 

“Think you could tell me your name now?”  Travis asked, and the man looked at him blankly.  Travis sighed a bit, what it was with this guy.  “I’m not going to hurt you.  Look, I don’t even care if you give me a fake name, just something so I can call you.”  Travis would really like to know this guy’s real name, but he wasn’t going to push for it.

 

The man looked him up and down for a moment, like he could see if there was some way Travis could be lying.  “Wesl—” He started before cutting himself off suddenly and there was a slight flash of horror in his eyes.  “Wesley, Wesley Mitchell.”  He stated quickly. 

 

Travis nodded, a smile growing on his lips.  “See that wasn’t so hard was it, Wes.”

 

“Wesley,” he corrected, and the priest chuckled.

 

“Too long,” Travis said with a wave of his hand.  “Relax, it’s just a nickname.”

 

“I don’t like it.”

 

“Too bad, I like it.”  Wes glared at Travis in response and Travis couldn’t help but chuckle.  “So, Wes,” Travis ignored the growl from Wes, “who you running from?”

 

“Who says I’m running?”  Wes countered, his voice was surprisingly calm for the how stiff he seemed to go.

 

“Your body does.”  Travis said with a small smile as he pointed at the other.

 

Wes let out a sigh and fell back against the back of the couch.  He stared up at the ceiling for a while before he closed his eyes and said anything.  “I’m running from my family.”  He said easily.  “And before you even so much as think about asking why in the world I’m running from them, I’m not going to tell you.”

 

“How long?”  Travis asked, wishing that for once the curiosity he was feeling would die down a bit.  He did not want to be the cat in the saying.   “Do you want to tell me how long you’ve running, or is that out of the questions I can ask you about your reasons for running.”

 

“I don’t really know how long it’s been.”  Wes said his voice full of thought.  Travis could almost see the gears in his head turning as if he was trying to calculate it down to the last second.  “I guess it’s been a month or so.  They caught up with me a few days ago and roughed me up a bit.”

 

“Sound like some real nice people.”  Travis said, and Wes chuckled a bit.

 

A silence fell on them, and Travis watched Wes drift off to sleep again.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Wes is in this chapter! I'm so excited.


	4. Love Save the Empty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes recovers from his night in the rain and leaves, only to keeps returning to the St. Anthony's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, another update. Sorry updates are taking forever, I'm getting a bit more into the swing of being able to write more. I was able to get a chapter done in the course of a day today, which is great!

_His dreams about his falling and he can’t shake the nightmares so easily._

_He fell for so long.  Or maybe it was no time at all, the pain coursing through his body just made it seem like he was falling forever.  He can feel the wind wrapping around him, and it’s completely different from flying, except he can’t control anything.  Still there was a part of his brain that is just screaming for him to spread his wings.  The basic instinct he was create with just raging inside him for him to just do something to save himself.  It screamed loudly over the wind, but he was helpless.  The pain he feels is over taking everything he can’t think properly._

_He knew he still had his wings; they didn’t cut them off so he still has them.  He could save himself from the fall, land on his feet and walk away.  He could save himself from further pain and he knew it.  All it took was just the spreading of his wings.  Yet he can’t, because gravity is pulling him down faster than he ever remembered before, and the pain in his body makes it agonizing to move._

_So he hits the earth and the breath is knocked out of him. It makes everything hurt more.  He just laid there and let the cold rain try to wash all the pain away.  After a few minutes, he willed the pain away, ignoring his father’s and siblings’ rage, and rose to his feet, thinking he needed to get some clothes._

_He counts himself lucky he can swallow his screams while he sleeps._

* * *

Wes stayed at the Rectory till about mid-afternoon the following day.  He had been in and out of sleep since his chat with Travis at three in the morning.  He would sleep for two to three hours, which seemed to be plagued with something that distressed him a little, only to wake up, eat and drink something, and avoid too much conversation.   Travis and Mike kept the conversation as light as they could.  Avoid questions on reasons for Wes’ adventure in the rain.  Wes’ fever never broke, and his skin was still hot to the touch, but he didn’t seem overly distressed about it, saying he would handle it when he returned to his place of residency.

The strange man left with nothing but thanks for their hospitality.  Changing back into his clothes, and scarfing down, rather enthusiastically, an apple Mike threw him.  He left with a wave and a flat “thank you” before he just walked off in what seemed like a random direction.  Honestly, Travis never thought he would see the strange man.  It sort of calmed him a little, because everything about Wes seemed to make up perfectly with the man in his dream. 

Of course, God seemed to have other plans about the odd Wesley Mitchell. 

After leaving their care, Wes returned to the church the following day just after ten-thirty rolled around.  He sat in the back few pews, almost like he would have a quick escape should something happen.  Dressed in similar clothes to when he first appeared at the church doors.  Slacks and a button up shirt, like it was all he had to his name, or he jumped at some sort of sale.   Travis would admit he was a bit surprised to see the man again, or rather so soon.  The Cap was chatting with him when Travis noticed him again, and Wes seemed to be making polite conversation about how he was feeling better when Travis joined in.  He left around two in the afternoon.

The process seemed to repeat daily.  Wes would come in around ten-thirty and leave at two.  Sitting in the back of the sanctuary like he had nowhere else to be.  Perhaps he didn’t, for all Travis knew the man could work nights.  Sometimes Sutton or Travis will talk to him about things, and there had been some members of the church who were curious and tried to talk to him as well, but Wes isn’t exactly the most talkative person in the parish. 

The routine carries on for about three weeks before Travis can’t take it anymore, just sits down next to him.  If Wes was surprised by the action, he didn’t let his body language show it.  He turned to Travis and gave him one of the smallest smiles Travis had ever seen in his life.  Travis praised the Lord, Wes didn’t shoot him the soul-seeing glare he gave so many other members of the parish who seemed to disrupt his peace.

"So, what’s up?”  Travis asked as he eased in next to Wes on the pew.

The lighter man leaned back and raised an eyebrow slightly, before turning his eyes to the ceiling.  “The ceiling,” Wes said seriously when he turned back to look at Travis. 

Travis let out a bark of laughter, which seemed to cause Wes to stare at him like Travis was slightly crazy, his body seemed to tighten.  The priest settled into the back of the pew with a wide grin, he could feel Wes’ pale eyes watching him.  “True,” Travis said lightly, turning to look back at Wes, “but not the answer I wanted.”

Wes seemed lost for a few seconds, before something seems to click in the back of his head.   There was a brief look of ‘oh’ on his face before he said anything.  “Everything is fine.”  Wes said with a flat voice.  He seemed to leave it at that.

The priest sighed a bit beside Wes.  He probably should be so surprised with Wes’ short and blunt answers, seeing as how it was what he gave everyone for the most part.  Wes raised an eyebrow at his sigh, but he didn’t say anything.  The two stared at each other for a few moments.  Wes still a bit rigid in the pew, and it sort of made Travis a bit antsy.  Travis can’t help it, he’s always been like that when people were too tense or paranoid around him, it just sort of rubbed off, still he tried not to show it.  Travis glanced around the church briefly, nothing out of the ordinary, so he turned back to Wes and gave him a calm smile, like it might help.  Wes’ shoulders seem to loosen a bit at the sight. 

“So, why do you come here every day?”  Travis asked suddenly.  “I mean no offense when I say this, but you don’t exactly look like a church-going type.”

A chuckle escaped Wes’ throat for a second, before he fell silent for about a minutes.  “I feel like I’m almost at home here and a little bit safer.”  Wes admitted, and Travis can’t help but watch some of the emotions swim around in his body language.  He’s shoulders go tense again, and he seemed to nervously pick at his slacks.  His voice is a bit dry, but he had look to his face that looked like he was a puppy kicked out into the rain.  “I guess you could say my family was religious and strict, but we didn’t exactly go to church, just sort of observed, I guess.”

“This is the same family you’re running from?”  Travis said in a hushed tone, and Wes just made a sound of acknowledgement as he glared at Travis.  The priest held his hands up in surrender with a small chuckle.

“Besides I don’t really have a place go.”  Wes said with a shrug.  Travis just raised an eyebrow and waved his hand for Wes to continue.  Wes rolled his eyes a bit.  “I had a bit of a falling from grace, and I’m still learning to stand in the mornings.”

“That must be fun.”  Travis said lightly.

“It’s really not.  No real income, and all.  Not really having a job does that too you.” 

Travis nodded at the complement.  “Hey, can I ask you something a bit personal?”  Travis asked leaning in a bit like it was a secret.

Wes glanced at him like he was confused.  “Haven’t you being doing that the whole conversation?”  Wes asked in a hushed tone, recoiling a bit when Travis waved him off.  He gave a slightly aggravated sigh before grumbling out a “fine, what is it?”

“Well it’s really two things I guess,” Travis rambled, and Wes glared at him harder.  The priest took a breath before he asked anything.  “It’s about your scar and tattoos.”  Travis said slowly, watching as Wes body language took a violent turn for uneasy and nervous.  “Sorry, I couldn’t help but notice them when you got out of the shower when we meet.  Where’d they come from?”

The other man seemed to fumble about, like he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.  Travis as about to tell him it was okay if he didn’t want to talk about them, Travis is just an idiot cat wanting to killed.  However Wes spoke up before Travis could get a word out.

“Some of my siblings gave it to me.  I wasn’t being orderly and things escalated.”  Wes said through a thick swallow, leaving a bit of a ‘let’s leave it at that’ hanging silently in the air.

Travis just nodded.  “And the tattoos?”

“They’re wings.”  Wes said with a shrug.

“I know that,” Travis said dramatically.  “But, most people don’t get tattoos like that without there being some meaning behind it.  So do they mean anything to you?”

“Nothing and everything.”  Wes said simply before he rose for the pew and walked out the main doors.

* * *

Travis knew he should apologize to Wes.  He hadn’t wanted to offend him or make him uncomfortable by questioning him.   Yet, he wasn’t exactly sure if Wes was any of that.  The light man had just upped and left their conversation, no really emotions in his voice or body language aside from the slight tenseness.  Part of Travis doesn’t feel like he should apologize, Wes was the one who seemed to have bad people skills seeing as how he wasn’t very talkative with other members of the parish.  Still it was the right thing to do, and it would probably get Emma and Mike off his tail about it.

However, Wes didn’t return the following day, or that day after that, or the day after that.  In a way that made apologizing to him a bit hard to do.  Travis cursed his curiosity for getting the better of him, Wes hadn’t exactly made it easy by his lack of explain, as more and more days past with no Wes insight.  Usually people share things with Travis all the time, mostly because he’s a priest and they come to him for guidance, but also because Travis was just an open guy about everything for the most part.  By the end of the week Travis feared he had scared Wes off for good.

Things at St. Anthony’s carried on as usual, like always.  Travis’ pastoral duties help keep his mind off Wes and his strange behavior and body markings.  Which was all okay in his mind. 

Another half a week passed before there was even a mention of Wes.  It was brought to him by a woman with short brown hair and bright blue eyes.   She wore a rather professional looking outfit; something Travis figured was designer, with shiny black heels on her feet.  She stood rather straight and proper and something about her just radiated a lawyer vibe.  She gave him a small smile when he turned to her, but it didn’t seem to reach her eyes, make it seem like it was more of a gesture to make him feel comfortable.  It only made things a bit worse.

“Sorry to bother you,” She started out, her voice was firm and full of some authority, but there was still a sweet ring to it.  “I was wondering you could help me find someone.”

Travis smiled at her kindly, the feeling of dread that had settled in his stomach starting to disappeared.  “I can try, who you looking for?”

“A blonde guy, about five-ten, sort of Aryan features, pale skin, with light blue eyes.”  The woman said gesturing a bit at help explain the features.  “I would give you a name, but I doubt his actually giving out his real name.” 

“You got a picture of something?”  Travis asked as he thought.

“Sadly, no.”  The woman said with a bit of a sigh, her eyes shifting around the church before she bit her lip.  “He would probably keep this hidden from sight, but he has a scar on his left side.”  The woman said suddenly like a thought struck her.  She made a gesture with her hands on how the scar would look on her left side.   She made a rather large downward ‘v’ shape.

Instantly, Wes’ ragged scar popped in his mind.  “Oh, are you looking for Wesley Mitchell?”  Travis asked and the woman lit up like a Christmas tree almost and nodded.  “He’s got wing tattoos on his shoulders.”

“So he’s been here?”  She asked eagerly.

“Yeah, he stumbled in here a little over month ago during that horrible storm that past threw.  I haven’t seen in two weeks and I have no idea where the in the world he lives.  Why you looking for him?”

The woman looked at Travis almost curiously, staring at him rather hard as well, tilting her head a bit.  She smiled again, and this time it met her eyes.  “I’m a good friend of his, almost like a sister.”  She said, glancing down at her hands for a second.  “I’m worried about him.”  She said in a quieter tone, almost making it seem like someone was listening in on them.  “Thank you for your help, Father.”  She said in a louder tone as she smoothed out her white blouse.  “I should be able to find Wesley on my own now.”

Travis made a sound.  “Hey, you got a name I can give Wes is he swings by here again by some miracle?”  Travis asked quickly as the woman collected her things to leave the church. 

Again the woman started at him blankly.  “Alexandria, but if you just say Alex, I’m sure he’ll know who you’re talking about.”  She answered back, before she strutted to the door with a grace and stride that might have made models jealous.

* * *

It was a Tuesday when Wes returned to St. Anthony’s.  Travis tried not too seem too joyful, after all Wes had a life outside the church walls.  Still, he gave Wes a blinding grin when he noticed him in the back, sitting as rigid and stiff as he always did, alone.  The lighter man visibly sighed and dramatically moved his head to show he was rolling his eyes.  However it wasn’t like Travis got to see him much.  He had been called to the hospital to do a Blessing of the Sick, only to return hours later at one-thirty.

Wes was still there in the back, when Travis returned, but Alex was sitting next to him.  Both of them sat straight in the pews, staring at the altar, and sitting only a few inches apart.  It sort of reminded Travis of a spy movie or something where people whispered information and tried to look like they didn’t know anything.  

“Do they know you’re here?”  Wes’ hushed voice still bounced about the walls of the empty sanctuary.  Travis froze in his spot, he was eavesdropping, or setting himself up too, and he knew it.  But for some reason he couldn’t help himself.

“I don’t believe so.”  Alex replied flatly, causing Wes to snort in reply. 

A silence seemed to settle on the two for a moment.  Travis held his breath as it seemed to just grow more and more tense with each passing moment.   “Be careful.”  Wes said suddenly.  “Michael won’t be pleased if he knows you’re talking to me.”

“Michael had has more important things to worry about.” Alex responded sternly.  “You are the least of his worries right now.”  Wes just seemed to make a sound.  “As far as the others are concerned, Castiel and I are handling it.”  Wes made another sound, this time there seemed to be a bit of amusement at the statement, but that was it.  Again a silence seemed to settle on them.  “Have you been remembering to eat, you’re looking thinner than usual.”

 “I eat when I can.”  Wes said. 

Alex made a sound this time, and Travis heard the sound of someone getting up from the pew.  Travis moved to look.  He found Alex leaning forward to whisper something in Wes ear, before she shoved some of her hair behind her ear and peeked Wes on the top of his head with a small smile.  Wes moved his head slightly to look up at her and return the small for a bit.

“Take care of yourself Wes.”  She said with a smile.  “I know it’s difficult—”

“Doesn’t even being to describe it on a good day,” Wes cut in.

Alex shook her head and sighed.  “Just focus on getting your new life together.”  She said before she exited the pew and out the main church doors.

Wes huffed a breath, before he buried his face in his hands for a moment.  He rubbed his face before he peered up at the alter muttering something under his breath it seemed.   “I would think spying would be a concerned a sin, and be frowned upon in a seminary, Father.”  Wes said suddenly with a devilish smile as he turned in the general location of Travis.  The priest couldn’t help but gape at him, he had thought he have been quiet.  “You’re not exactly a quiet creature,” Wes said with a bit of a laugh.

Something in Travis realizes that everything is okay with Wes.  He doesn’t really have to apologize to him.  Travis grinned.

“You still looking for a job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes, I threw a little bit of Alex in there. Alex is an angel that Wes knows as well, and her vessel is Alex from the show...so yeah...Not much else I can think to say other than I'm really excited for you all to read the next chapter.


	5. The Undone and The Divine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wes starts working at the church, and a strange man comes and demands to know where Weslfryel is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I think everyone should just throw out the fact that I'll be attempting to do regular updates...cause that probably won't happen.
> 
> Also been waiting forever to use that title!

St. Anthony’s never really had an official church staff.  Yes, there had been some janitorial workers and a few secretarial jobs, but for the most part Travis and Mike ran everything.  They had made it work, planning everything accordingly, balancing the books, and upholding their clerical duties.  Travis figured it was about time the church had someone who was in charge of everything.  Wes seemed like he was an organized person, someone who was put together enough to still function when they were scrambling.

The job seemed to be almost what Wes needed.  For one thing he talked more to people, and not just to get business done, he asked about families and lives.  He jabbed it out with Travis and Mike he knew them for years.  He seemed to open up more, he was still sort of closed off, but he was way more animated.   Always there extra early and left the latest out of everyone.  The staff there currently had liked him.  He was punctual and things never seemed to get lost in piles with him around, and he made sure things were done properly.  The tension that was usually in his shoulders seemed to fade slightly.  Wes still looked over his shoulder from time to time, but never in a manner that would put the whole room on edge.   The only odd thing about it all was getting the information the church needed to pay him.

In all fairness, though, Wes agreed to work for free until he _could_ get them everything, whatever that meant.  It wasn’t what Travis wanted to hear, especially when what Wes had said to him about his lack of income still rung in his head.  Travis had offered the job to Wes so he could get back on his feet financially.  Still Wes didn’t seem to mind putting in the hours for nothing.  Though after his first few weeks Travis seemed to pay him in food, because Wes was thinning and he always ate things like he hadn’t eaten in days. 

It felt like the right thing to do.  Leave some bagels or pop tarts in the break room that he could snack on for breakfast.  He made Wes eat lunch with him, and talk business or what not, the man seemed to have a love-hate relationship with that set up.  He always complained about how he had better things to do, but ate every last crumb on his plate.   Travis would leave a fruit lying around on Wes’ desk as a snack, which always had Wes popping in to see him in the afternoon to tell him to not fiddle with the things on his desk.  Sometimes Travis would be able to catch Wes for dinner, or shove a box of left overs one of his foster mothers had given him into Wes’ hands.

Still the lack of legal information from Wes seemed to be an issue Mike and him had brought up a few times behind closed doors.  Especially when weeks started turning into months.

“Travis, it shouldn’t take this long to get anything, especially some form of ID.”  Mike always started.  “We can’t even do a basic background check.  Not that I think we need one for Wes, I mean he sat around in a church all day by himself.  I’m pretty sure if he was some kind of criminal he wouldn’t hang around a place like this 24/7.”

“I know.”  Travis said pinching the bridge of his nose.  They had this conversation so many times.  “Look, Cap, for all we know, he’s keeping things from us so his family doesn’t find him.”  Mike raised an eyebrow and Travis sighed.  “They could be tracking his bank accounts or social security for anything that might pop up.”

Father Sutton sighed and crossed his arms, like he always did.

* * *

“Father Travis, you remember Mr. and Mrs. Dumont, yes?”  Travis heard Emma asked. 

He turned to the sound of her voice from where he was reorganizing some of the books in the pews.  He grinned at her as she walked up with an older couple behind her, the rest of her therapy group existing out some of the churches main door.   He remembered the Dumonts almost instantly.  They had joined the parish a year ago, shortly after they started meeting with Emma for her couple’s therapy groups, having fallen in love with it almost instantly.  They still had their problems, and arguments, and Travis always knew when they were mad at each other a bit when he would get the chance to talk to them after Masses.  They’re homey, slightly southern accents were hard to forget.

“Yes, of course.”  Travis smiled out, leaning a bit to acknowledge the two.  “I could never forget Grace and Kevin.”  The two grin at him, Kevin having his arm rather lovingly around his wife’s shoulder. 

“I figured you would say that.”  Emma said with a wide grin.  “They had something to ask you.”

“Fire away.”  Travis said as he slid out the pew to talk to them.

The Dumonts glanced at each other for a moment, before grinning a bit at each other like a nervous couple with big news or an honorary question.  They lightly shot back and forth who should be the one to ask; Travis crossed his arms in a bit of amusement.   

Eventually it seemed they settled on Grace to be the one to talk.  “We were wondering if you would renew our vows for us.”  Grace almost squealed out, a huge grin on her face.

Travis couldn’t help but mimic it as he dropped his arms.  “Yes, of course!”  He beamed.  “That’s great to hear.”  Travis moved to hug Grace when he noticed the older woman was going to offer him one.  He even gave Kevin a hand shake and quick pat on the back.

“I don’t think we could have done it without Dr. Ryan.”  Kevin said with his kind grin.

“Most of it was the two of you on your own Kevin, I was just there as a median and guiding hand.”  Emma said with a shake of her head.  “Renewing your vows is a very big step, we’re all proud of you.”  Travis nodded in agreement.

The Dumonts started discussing details about what they wanted to do.  They wanted to do a sort of mini wedding on the beach with just a few friends, and wondered if that was fine with Travis.  The priest just smiled, while it might not be very official, Travis didn’t see the harm in it.  He told them to call the church in the morning to schedule everything, muttering to himself to leave a note on Wes’ desk.  The Dumonts smiled, nodding as they took their leave. 

Emma waved at them before turning to Travis.  “Thank you, Father.”  She grinned adjusting her purse.

“No problem,” Travis smiled back, sliding a hand into one of his pockets.  “I’m always open to doing stuff like that for your couples.”

“Good to know.”  Emma said, glancing down at her watch.  “Well, thank you again, I should get going.  Good night, Father.”

“Night Emma,” Travis said with a wave, watching her walk towards the exit.  “Drive safe.”  Emma turned to give him a smile and bit of an eye roll from what Travis could see.  Travis chuckled to himself as he turned back into the pew to finish straightening the books in the pew, with the study clacks of Emma’s heels in the distance.

Suddenly the main doors to the church burst open, banging loudly on the side like someone shoved too hard.  Which was almost impossible to do, usually a built person could shove one door a bit roughly.  Travis jumped at the sound, turning sharply to the sound.  A man came storming through the door.  He was built, bald, and tough looking, with an angry scowl on his face.

“Where is he?”  The man growled out as he stormed up the aisle towards Travis.

“Who’s he?”  Travis asked calmly, glancing back at Emma briefly.  She was quickly rushing through a row of pews to get to the aisle.

“Weslfryel!” The man snarled out.  The named caused Travis to raise an eyebrow, what poor child’s parents thought that was a good name for their kid.  “Where is he?”  The man said repeating his question again.  “I know he’s here.”

“I’ve never meet anyone with the name Weslfryel.”  Travis replied calmly, easing out of the row.  “I honestly think I would never forget that name.”

“Don’t lie to me, priest.”  The man growled angrily.  “You’ve meet him, countless times, daily it seems.”  The man snapped, his pale blue eyes glancing up and down Travis with a small look of disgust on his face.  “I know he’s here currently.  Where is he?  Where are you hiding him?!”  The man hissed jabbing his pointer finger into Travis’ chest.

“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.  I’m telling you the truth.”  Travis said firmly, holding his hands up in surrender.

The man growled, glaring sharply at Travis, before he grabbed to fistfuls of Travis’ shirt, lifting him up a bit.  Travis’ eyes went wide, grabbing at the man’s wrist in shock, and Emma gave a sharp call, but the man ignored her.  He glared at Travis like he could see right through him; Travis couldn’t help but swallow a bit as a fear settled into his stomach.  He had faced some tough people in his life, but there was just something about this guy that really made him made him fear for his life.

“Morgael!”  Wes’ voice snapped loudly suddenly.  Travis and the man, apparently his name was Morgael, turned to look at the sound.  Wes was standing there, looking like he ran three miles in a mixture of fear and a need to protect.  “Put him down.”  Wes growled out, straightening his back and puffing up his shoulders like he was trying to make himself look bigger.

“Weslfryel,” The man, or rather Morgael, chuckled out as he did what he was told, letting Travis stumble as he regained his footing.  “Look at you.”  Morgael said, taking measured steps towards Wes.  “All puffed up like a little bird.”

Wes stood his ground and his stance didn’t change, but he seemed tiny compared to the man.  “Travis, you okay?”  Wes asked, not once breaking eye contact with Morgael.

Travis just made a sound that he was okay.  “I’m fine, but are you sure you’re okay with that name.”  Travis said trying to ease the tension that was filling the room. 

“What are you doing here, Morgael?”  Wes asked as if Travis had never said a thing to him.

“I could ask you the same, Weslfryel.”  Morgael said firmly, as if that would scare Wes away.

Wes just glared; the soul-seeing one he gave many people when they bothered him.  “Who sent you?”

“Uriel.”  Morgael supplied.  “He found out about all this, didn’t want you to start leading members of flock astray.  He was very angry, and sent me to handle it.”

“I have done no such thing, nor do I intend too.”  Wes snapped, Travis noticed his fists tightening.  His eyes flash briefly over to look at Travis.  “Can we talk about this else were?”  Wes asked, his voice suddenly quiet and almost pleading, but he doesn’t drop his stance.

The two stare at each other hard for a few moments, almost panting from the tension in their bodies.   Travis was confused by their conversation, and he turned to Emma to find her looking just as confused.  She looked like she was ready to jump in a mediate their conversation, but at the same time not sure she should.  Emma turned to look at him as well, shrugging at what was happening.  Finally, Morgael seemed to relax his shoulders a bit, Wes following in suit.  Morgael grinned and let a sharp chuckle, Wes’ body went tense in a second, but there was no time for him to block the blow Morgael threw at his jaw.

Wes fell to the ground instantly, causing Travis and Emma to rush over to him in a fit of yells, drowning out the growl of “no” Morgael gave.  Morgael glared at them, but stepped back as Travis eased himself between Wes as the other man.   Father Sutton came tearing out of the confessional box at the sound, with a loud demand for what was going on.   Morgael glanced at him, taking another step back as Mike walked through a row of pews, assisting Emma as she helped Wes get to his feet.

“And you say you haven’t led anyone astray,” Morgael said with a smug sort of look on his tough face.  “Yet these people practically fly to you when you fall.” 

“Hey!”  Travis snapped with a hard look in his face.  “You’re the one who socked Wes, here in the face for no good reason.  We know Wes, we don’t know you, sorry if were concerned about someone.”  Morgael’s face twisted into something Travis couldn’t read very well.  “Now a church is no place for violence, so if you’re not going to talk with Wes like a civil person, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Morgael raised an eyebrow at the comment.  “Are you kicking me out of my Father’s house?”  He asked in a low tone, Travis just gave a firm nod in reply.  Morgael let out a bark of laughter.  “You ask me to leave, and let _him_ stay.”  Morgael’s face wrinkled with disgust as he looked at Wes.  “Oh yes, Weslfryel, I see your intentions are pure as always.”

A hand grabbed at Travis’ arms, pulling him back.  The priest stumbled a bit as Wes eased himself in front of him.  “Just do what he asks, Morgeal.”  Wes said softly and calmly, like he wasn’t trying to start anything.

Anger flared in Morgael’s eyes.  “The priest might have a right to tell me to leave, but not you.”

Something flashed in the light, and before Travis could even register that, Morgael was lunging at Wes, who was ready this time.  He blocked the tougher man’s attack, causing him to drop what was in his hand.  Travis noticed it was a short silver blade as it clattered to the floor by Wes’ feet.  Wes used the man’s weight of his attack against him, twisting Morgael with ease before he sent him sliding down the church aisle.  Wes leaned down to pick up the blade from the floor as Morgael got to his feet.

Morgael growled out as he stood straighter.  “And here I was thinking you would make it easy for me.”  Morgael smeared with an angered grin.  “Figured you might try and hid it all from your ‘friends’, but I guess I was wrong.  Uriel warned me you might be like the First Few, prideful and violent.  All bite and no Grace.”

“I’m nothing like the First Few; I just don’t want to die when I haven’t done anything wrong.”  Wes replied back harshly.

Morgael made a sound, straightening himself up.  He puffed his shoulders up like Wes had when had first talked to the man, and his eyes started to glow a bright blue.  The lights started flickering, causing Travis to look up briefly, before two behind him suddenly burst.  He cringed, especially as more started bursting all around him, showing them all in sparks.  He glanced around him, finding Emma and Mike ducking under the shower of sparks like him, but Wes stood in front of them like nothing was wrong, and Morgeal was down the aisle away still looking puffed up.  However as the lights flickered Travis could make out the shadow of what looked like wings spreading along the all.  He glanced over at Mike who was looking at him with complete panic in his eyes.

Just as quickly as it all started, the flickering and bursting of lights came to stop.

* * *

_He felt his brother the moment he entered the property.  He didn’t know exactly who it was; his Falling had taking away his ability to know which of his siblings was around him without seeing them.  He debated running as his brother grew closer, panicking about what to do, he could feel this wasn’t going to be someone who was worried about him.  Yet he stayed, leaving his office and rushing to the sanctuary to see if all could be avoided._

_It was never his luck as he found his brother gripping the reason he fell.  So he stepped in.  He knew instantly his brother was there was to kill him, but if it was on his own free will or an order, he didn’t know, or if it was a mixture of both.  It ended up being both.  Why couldn’t his siblings leave him alone?  He wasn’t like first to Fall.  He had Fallen for internally different reasons, and he hadn’t exactly gone to his other First Few for comfort and shelter.  He took shelter under his Father’s house and didn’t bother anyone._

_However watching his brother flare his wings like it would strike fear in him, he had no choice.  His brother was scaring the others, and he understood why.  Lights were flickering and exploding for an unexplained reason that would scare any human.  He wants to protect them in from his brother’s fury, even though his brother has no intention of hurting them unless they get the way._

_Falling is something that is secretive to them all, only their older brothers knew what happened after the Grace was torn out.  Other’s had Fallen and they were never spoken off again, though if they were left alone or not, he didn’t know.  He had hoped maybe they were, but his older brothers were always fearful of anyone that Fell after the First Few.  Now he knew enough of basics, he didn’t want to die either, and he was going to teach his brother._

_For the first time since his Falling, he spread his wings to their fullest._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Morgael is Morgan, and his Vessel is Crowl, because I can. And yes, like I said before, the angels of this story are based off the ones in Supernatural, but this is where I kind of branch off with my Fallen Angel idea. 
> 
> -screams- I can't wait for you guys to get to the next chapter!


	6. Tired Wings are Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The secrets out, and Wes does some explaining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter. I'm so sorry I'm horrible at updating. I have the time to write and the will, but I'm just like...nah. Hopefully I'll get better, I still have tons of ideas.

He was dreaming.  He had to be.  That was the only thing that would make everything happening in front of him make any sense.

People’s eyes didn’t glow, unless they were in a movie or show.  Lights didn’t burst and flicker at nothing; they didn’t shower people in sparks all too often either.  They sure as hell did not usually create wing shadows out of thin air.    Tattoos don’t glow or expand out, and they didn’t solidify into something.  More importantly, wings don’t just pop out of someone’s back.

Travis felt his eyes widened as a ten foot, muted golden colored wing is suddenly obscuring his view of Morgael.  He blinked and turned slowly to Mike and Emma.  Mike is looking between Emma and Travis, while Emma is blinking straight ahead at Wes who is still in front of them.  Travis followed her line of sight, finding it was resting on Wes’s shoulder blades, where the edges around the base of Wes’ new limbs were burning his shirt slightly.   Travis glanced back Emma was looking at both him and Mike, the only thing Travis can think to do is shrug.

He turned his attention back to Wes and his wings.  Wes’ attention is still fixed on Morgael, and he rolled his shoulders a bit, the wings shifting.   Travis found his eyes focusing more on the wings with each of their movements.  The wing span had to be about twenty feet long, with a coloring that was slightly lighter then Wes’ dirty blonde hair, but still muted.  They reminded Travis of enlarged eagle wings.  Long elegant feathers along the edges that had to be almost as long as his arm, small feathers clustering more towards the base of the wings.  Some of the feathers looked course and used, while others seemed smooth and cared for, and there others that seemed to be a combination of the two.  Travis wanted to reach out and touch them and see how they felt.

“This isn’t possible,” Morgael’s voice suddenly sounded through the sanctuary, knocking Travis out of his trance on Wes’ wings.  The priest pulled his back instantly, turning to look back at Emma who was staring at him with wide eyes. 

“Really?”  Wes replied.  “You were there; when they cut into my side and tore out my Grace, not once did they touch my wings.  This is still completely possible.” 

Travis moved slightly to see Morgael.  The large bald man was starting at Wes with complete shock and horror on his face.  He gapped with his mouth, like he was trying to say something, but his words were failing him. 

“Now leave this church like you were asked.”

In the blink of an eye Morgael is suddenly gone, leaving nothing but an echo was wings flapping in his wake.  Wes let out a sigh, and his wings dropped a bit as well, rearranging themselves in a similar manner to birds before they fold up.  They nestled themselves against Wes’ back, but not completely tucked away, like he was ready to fly away if he needed too.  The wings still looked massive on Wes’ back, even though folded they were at least five long, hanging just little under a foot off the floor, and tops just a bit over his head.

“What in the world is going on?”  Father Sutton said suddenly breaking the silence. 

Wes turned too him, causing Mike to stiffen a bit.  “I guess I do owe you three an explanation.” 

“That would be nice.”  Sutton snapped back in reply, and Wes ruffled his wings at the reply like he was slightly surprised.  “Where should we start?  The vanishing man, the whole argument you two had, or the fact that you have wings growing out of your back.” 

Wes cringed slightly at the sharp tone, his wings spreading to wrap around him slightly.   Travis can’t help but notice how expressive Wes’ wings made him.  Everything about his body language and motions from before, he still expressed more with his wings.  Emma took a calming breath and glanced at Sutton who seemed slightly shocked by Wes’ reaction.

“Hey Wes,” Travis said gently, reaching out for the lighter man.  The muted golden wings were still wrapped around Wes as Travis reach for him.   His fingertips so much as brushed the feathers, which were so soft Travis hardly believed he was touching them, and Wes recoiled away, his wings flattening against his back.  Wes looked at Travis like he scandalized him or something.  Travis instantly pulled back his hand and dropped it by his side.  “…Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Wes said awkwardly, glancing at anything that wasn’t Travis, Emma, or Mike.  “I’m just not use to people touching them.”  He sighed out.  “I’ll explain everything to you if you want.”

“That would be lovely Wes, but you won’t mind if we did it over tea or a glass of wine.”  Emma said with a kind smile on her face. 

Wes gave a small grin and nodded.  “That would be nice.”  Wes said as his wings glowed suddenly and shrunk back into his back. 

Travis gave him an awkward smile at the process, watching as the wing tattoos on the lighter man’s bag faded back into the dark lines that became the outline and details of the wings on his back.  Yeah, that was going to take some getting used to. Wes flattered slightly when it was done, Travis gabbed onto his arm to study him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Wes said with a small nodded as he straightened up.  “It’s always like this.”  Wes worked his way out of Travis’ hold.  “Where to, Cap?”  Wes said turning to Sutton who was glancing at them.    Sutton smiled slightly, and turned to lead the way to the Rectory.

* * *

No one said anything until Father Sutton’s kettle started whistling, Mike broke it briefly when he rose to get it and pour everyone a cup of tea.  The silence was slightly awkward, a little uncomfortable, and so annoyingly tense.  Wes is staring at a knot in the woodwork of the table with a sort of shame hanging over him, his fingers lightly tracing over the grain.  He didn’t acknowledge Mike when he slid a mug in front of him.  Emma was sitting calmly beside him, watching him carefully before she took her cup of tea from Mike.   Travis sat across the table from Wes, tapping at the table due to the tension in the air.  He glanced at Mike when he returned to his sit beside Wes.

Wes glanced up once Mike was settled in his seat, his pale blue eyes glancing at all of them.  “I wish there was an easy place to start.”  He said calmly, even though it looked like he wanted to book it.

“How about who…or what…you are.”  Emma said slowly and gently.  Clearly choosing her words as wisely as she could.

“My real name is Weslfryel,” Wes started with a small sigh.  Travis couldn’t help the look that came across his face; he honestly wanted to know who thought that was a good name for a child.  Mike seemed to make a similar face to his own, and Emma just nodded with a neutral look.  “Don’t make that face, especially you Father Sutton.”  Wes snapped, glaring at Mike a bit.  “Your name comes from one of my brothers.”

“The name Michael is believed to stem from the Archangel Michael.”  Mike said.  Wes just seemed to blink at him.  “You’re saying, you’re an angel.”  Mike said rather skeptically.

“ _Was_ ,” Wes corrected, his shoulders pulling down and back.  “I was an angel, I Fell recently.”  He seemed to pause, like he expected someone to cut him off.  No one really did, they all just kind of glanced at each other with confused looks.  In a way it somewhat explained the odd set of words that were exchanged between Wes and Morgael.   “I mentioned it to Travis just before I had Fallen.” 

That made everyone turn and look at Travis.  Travis’ eyes darted between Mike and Emma, who were looking to him for confirmation.  Travis swallowed slightly glancing to Wes who is looking at him blankly.  How did he know about the weird dream Travis had with someone who looked exactly like him?  Unless it really had been Wes.   That was quickly becoming a possibility the more Travis sat there and thought about it.  Especially after the confrontation the other had with Morgeal.

“Okay, I had a dream, where a man, very similar to Wes, told me he was going Fall.”  Travis said with a shrug.  “But that was just a dream, I have months ago.”

“Angels have talked to people before in dreams.”  Wes said simply, looking at Travis like he should know better.   Travis probably should have, considering the way Wes had apparently talked to him in the dream.

Mike gave him a hard look.  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“For starters, I thought it was a dream.”  Travis defended quickly.  “Second, Wes—Weslfry—whatever never mentioned the fact that he was an angel, so how was I supposed to know.”  Travis said shooting Wes a look.  Wes glanced down at the table, before looking up to say something in return.  “I know it wasn’t important at the time.”  Travis growled.  “Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that he showed up three days later.  I didn’t want to sound crazy.”

“Travis, you escaped a car crash that should have killed you, without a scratch.”  Sutton snapped, turning to glance at Wes made a sound at the comment.  “I take it you had something to do with that.”  Wes gave a slow nodded as he glanced between Sutton and Travis.

“Gentlemen, please.”  Emma cut in.  Her voice was sharp and clear, causing the others to turn to her.  “I understand that maybe Travis should have mentioned the dream, but that is not why we’re here.”   She turned to glance at Wes, who was watching her with a slightly amused look on his face, his look quickly fell.  “Wes, you were explaining to us what you were.”   She motioned for him to continue.

Wes sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before he started talking.  “As it’s been establish, I’m a Fallen angel.”  Wes said slowly.  “It’s why my skin is warmer, feverish by human standards; angels have always had temperatures hotter than humans.  My metabolism is faster as well, and I’m not completely use to eating or sleeping very much.  It should also explain why I lack paper work I have for you.”  Wes said turning to look at Mike, who blinking at the comment.  “My hearing my not be as good as it used to be, but it can still pick up things behind walls or closed doors.”

“I told you he had a reason.”  Travis cut in, but wiggled under Wes’ soul-seeing look he gave everyone.  Mike even shot him a hard look.  “Wait, if you have basically nothing to your name, where do you go after you leave here?”

“I’ve been taking shelter an in old warehouse.”  Wes informed with a shrug.  “I’ll admit it’s not the most comfortable, but it is large enough for me to stretch out my wrings a bit.”  Wes leaned forward on the table, reaching back to touch his shoulder blade.

“About your wings,” Mike started, “I thought Fallen angels didn’t have wings.”

“Our wings are not products of Grace.”  Wes said matter-factly.  “We can have them without having Grace, they are just visible to people.  When an angel Falls, they usually just lose their Grace.”

“So you lost your Grace.”  Emma said gently, reaching out slightly to touch Wes’ arm.   “Why?  What made you Fall?”

The fallen angel stiffed at the question.  He glancing down at the knot of wood he had been inspecting earlier.  A silence settled on the room as everyone waiting to see what Wes would say, if he would say anything at all.  Travis vaguely remembered Wes mentioning something about disobeying orders from the dream.  But he couldn’t remember if that was the reason Wes had Fallen, or that was simply why he was running in their first place.

“You disobeyed orders…” Travis said slowly.

“Yes…”  Wes said quietly, “but also no.”  Wes scratched at his chin and shifted slightly uncomfortably.  “I was in trouble for not following orders as originally instructed, because I did follow them.”  Travis raised an eyebrow at that comment, and Wes growled a bit.  “I kept you alive like I was ordered to; I just did more than I was supposed to.  It was enough to get me in trouble, and maybe suspended for a while, but not enough to make me Fall.”

“What made you Fall then?”  Emma asked again, leaning in closer like she was desperate to know.

Wes shifted again, clearly not liking all of the sudden attention.  He bit his lip and glanced at anything that wasn’t a person.  “I fell in love with a human.”  Wes admitted after he focused on the cooling tea that had been placed in front of him.  “That coupled with the fact that I didn’t follow in order as instructed, was enough for me to Fall.”

“Who did you fall in love with?”  Mike asked.

Wes just lifted his head and look at Travis.  Their eyes meet.

_Oh._

* * *

“You do know we have a ladder, right?”  Travis commented as he walked up on the blonde man…angel…whatever he was, attempting to reach for the rooftop of the rectory.

The sudden sound of his voice clearly started Wes, judging by the fact that he jumped and almost fell out of the tree he was climbing with a small yelp.  Wes carefully balanced himself on the branch of the tree he was sitting on again.  He turned to Travis sharply, glaring at the priest.  Travis just grinned up at him, Wes just let out a sigh.

“I’m aware of the fact.”  Wes muttered as he slid down off the branch and landed with a soft thud.  “I’m also aware that I have wings.”

“So why the tree climbing?”  Travis asked gesturing to the tree as he neared Wes. 

Wes turned to glance at it like he hadn’t noticed he was climbing a tree, or that it betrayed him.  “I needed some elevation.”  Wes answered.  Travis wasn’t sure what to say in reply to that, so he just gave a small nod.  “What are you doing out here?”  Wes asked.

The priest chuckled to himself at the question.  He glanced down at his shoes, before glancing up at Wes, who was watching him carefully.  “Well you basically confessed you were in love with me and then said you need some air.”  Travis smiled at Wes as he seemed to shift nervously.  To their luck, it seemed to have gone over Mike’s head a bit, but Emma had caught it and urged Travis to go after him.  “I thought you were going fly away or something.”

“That would be too risky.”  Wes replied flatly.

Travis chucked and shook his head at the comment.  He made his way towards the tree, giving it a look over the trunk for any good foot holes.  He hadn’t climbed a tree since he was thirteen and decided to be the hero and get his foster brother’s ball out of a tree.  Travis managed to heave himself up into the first branch, before turning to glance at Wes who was looking up at him with confusion. 

“You coming up?”  Travis asked with a friendly grin.

Wes glanced around before he basically jumped and pulled himself up onto the branch Travis one.  Wes easily made his way to the second branch in half the time it took Travis to pull himself up the first time.  He muttered show off to himself, but judging by the chuckle from, Wes he knew the other heard him like he has said it for the world to hear.  Travis managed to get to the second branch; he noticed Wes was holding his hand out from the third.  The fallen angel pulled Travis to the next branch with ease. 

Somehow they eventually made to the roof.  Wes made his way to the top of the pitched roof and glanced around, before he eventually sat down a few feet away from Travis on the slope of the roof.   The priest watched him carefully from his spot.  Wes seemed for more content and at ease when he was higher up.  The silence of the evening air settled on them.

“For the sake of being cliché,” Travis said, carefully using the phrase to break the peaceful silence.  “Did it hurt when you Fell from heaven?”

The priest turned to see a small corner of Wes’ mouth perk up slightly.  “I have nightmares of the pain.”  Wes said with a sigh, pulling his knees up to his chest.  “Imagine someone cutting into you with the dullest blade they could find, then reaching in and grabbing your heart.  Squeezing down on it as hard as they can then ripping it out of your chest and all your nerve endings come out as well.  Then multiply it by ten.”  Travis squirmed at the description, he couldn’t even begin to think about how that felt, let along multiply it by ten.  “After that it’s all gravity.”

“So a very big yes, then.”  Travis said lightly, but he still swallowed. 

Laughter suddenly bubbled out of Wes’ throat as he leaned back to look at the night sky.  It sounded like genuine happy laughter.  Travis wondered what it would have sounded like was Wes still an angel in heaven. 

“Why me, Wes?”  Travis asked when Wes seemed to settle.

“Hmm?”

“Why me?”  Travis asked again.  “I mean having an angel actually Fall from heaven because of you does quite nice things for the ego.  But what did you in?  This face?  The voice?”

“The soul.”  Wes said easily, turning to Travis with his soul-seeing gaze, only it was softer than usual.  “Honestly, I didn’t really have a clue what you physically looked like until I saved you from the car accident.”  He gave a bit of a shrug and turned back to the sky.  “Souls are what people truly are.  I found your battered, imperfect soul that shined with such softness and care so beautiful.  In heaven, everything and everyone is so perfect, that it’s sometimes easy to fall in love with imperfect things.”

Well that was kind of an interesting thing to say.  It brought a small smile to Travis’ lips.  Leave it to an angel to fall in love with someone in the most ideal way.  Falling for the soul.

“I’m sorry.”  Wes said suddenly, knocking Travis from his thoughts.

“For what?”

“I know this is kind of awkward for you.”  Wes said with another shrug of his shoulders.  “Finding out an angel Fell for you.  I know you took an oath to my father, and I’m not asking you to break it.”  Wes said rising to his feet.  “I can go away, if you want.”

“What?  No!”  Travis snapped quickly getting to his feet.   “First of all, you’re my friend, and second off all you haven’t got an inch of ID.”  Wes blinked at him shocked for a second, but then his face blossomed into a grin.  “Besides, you can’t always control who you fall for.”

“Yes, I suppose that is true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, the cat is out of the bag. And now you can see why my fallen angel idea is different from Supernaturals. They don't become humans, its more like when Cas was starting to Fall and was losing his grace in Season 5. So Wes still has his wings, and he can materialize them and fly with them and stuff, and he's not completely human.
> 
> I figured disobeying an order wasn't just enough to make Wes Fall, and neither was just loving a human. But together was sort of enough for the other angels to justify it a bit.


	7. Gravity of Tempered Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life after Wes explains he's a Fallen angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters! I'm happy with the next one, but the epilogue ending has me a little unsure. I like it but at the same time.

_The confrontation with his brother had not been received well up in heaven as he learned from Alexandria in the days following.  Uriel and the others were all in a tiff, but then handled it well enough. It seemed like they agreed to leave him alone for the time being, just watch his movements and make sure he wasn’t going to become like the First Few.  He learned that when Gabriel came to visit St. Anthony’s with smile and presence that gave Wes a bit of a headache.  However, Heaven was not his concern any more, or rather not like it had been.  He had his Earthly life to worry about._

_Still Travis, Mike, and Emma had received him well enough, despite him Falling.  To Mike he was rather fascinating and somewhat holy.  Fallen or not, there was still angel in his being.  Besides, he had lived millenniums longer than any of them; Father Sutton enjoyed picking at his brain or discussing historical facts or stories.  Emma didn’t treat him any different, so that had to mean something.  Travis had taken a great interest in_ him _.  Wes, of course, tried not to let that mean anything to him.  The priest talked with him every time he could, with questions Weslfryel always pictured a human would ask if they ever had the chance to sit down and talk with an angel._

_His life moved on.  He kept his job as the church head of staff, being paid in food and shelter rather than money. Though he knew that Mike and Travis put a small amount of money away just in case.  He moved into the rectory’s spare room.  Collecting the few things he had to his name from the abandoned warehouse to stuff them in a drawer and got to sleep on a bed.    Granted he lost space to spread his wings, he didn’t mind._

_He found a home, and it was all that really mattered to him. He wasn’t Weslfryel, Angel of the Lord anymore. Now he was Wesley Andrew Mitchell, and needed to get a few things in order._

* * *

 

“Trav, you realize what you’re asking me to do is illegal.”  Travis’ foster sister, Sandra, said as she folded her arms. 

Travis knew Sandra made fake IDs on the side for rich, underage teenagers, and anyone who was willing to pay a big bill for one.  She does a good job with it to, really _good_ , and she’s careful too.  She doesn’t ask many questions and she makes sure she doesn’t take a fall if someone gets caught.  As much as Travis hated to admit it, he really needed Sandra’s help.  She was the first person Travis thought of to help them with Wes’ situation.

“Like, that’s stopped you before.”  Travis said with a roll of his eyes. 

Sandra gave him a look, and sighed.  “Okay, this is more illegal then what I usually do.”  Sandra said with a roll of her eyes.  “I mean, yeah, fake ID, I’ll do no problem, and for you I’d do it for free.  But you’re asking me to make basically everything…for him.”  Sandra said glancing over at Wes who has been inspecting a dying plant by the window.

“Go to confession if it bothers you so much,” Wes said flatly, not once looking up from the plant.

“Sweetheart, the last time I was in a confession box, I confessed, but not my sins.”  Sandra said with a sly grin. 

Wes turned and opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to close his mouth.  He glared at her a bit, causing her to giggle slightly, but then he shrugged and turned his attention to something else.    Travis watched him as he glanced at some of the things around the room, before he turned back to Sandra.  She sighed again as she looked at Travis one time. 

“Sandra, who bailed you out of prison when were arrested for possession for the first time and fifteen because you didn’t want to face Ma’s fury just yet.”  Travis responded. 

He knew he had her trapped with that one.  It was the one thing he held over her head.  He had snuck out of the seminary, swore up and down to the cops he would beat the word of God into her before it could ever happen again.  Yeah, he got yelled at and lectured to, but he had turned it around with a mixture of what he learned and just general WWJD logic on his teachers and mentors.  It had been a treat to watch them gap at him like fishes before they sent him on his way with a light slap on the wrists.

“You did,” Sandra replied with a sigh.  “However, that is not going to get me to do what you want.”  She gave a smart grin and straightened up a bit.

Travis gave her a look and she raised an eyebrow.  She wanted to know what this was about, or maybe how Travis even came to be involved with Wes or whatever.  Travis sighed.  “I can’t tell you why.”

“Well you can.”  Wes said as he’s glancing over the back of a book curiously.  He caused both foster siblings to turn to him.  “I simply prefer that you not.  Simply because you won’t believe it, Sandra, and then there’s the whole proving it too you.  And I can’t have my brothers thinking I’m forming a cult.”  Wes said before glancing up at the two with a weird grin.    The priest could only shake his head at the Fallen angel, who shrugged.  “Or something like that.” He added awkwardly.

Travis turned back to Sandra who is now looking at him with highest raised eyebrow Travis has ever since.  “What Wes said, but way less weird.”  Travis grinned.  “I promise you it’s not as bad as your probably thinking.”

Sandra chewed at her lip before her face broke into a smile.  “Fine,” she caved with a roll of her eyes.  “But, you owe me, Trav, and no more holding the whole possession arrest over my head anymore.”

“Deal.”

* * *

Within two weeks, Wes finally had what he needed to exist enough to work his way into a human life and society should he ever depart from St. Anthony’s.  Travis prayed that never happens, and part of him knows it never will.  The fact that Wes Fell, in a way, because of him, Travis knew it would take more than a simple change in the wind for Wes to part with him.  Of course, legally, Wes doesn’t exist at all, but if someone was doing a quick look through, he would be fine.  The Fallen angel doesn’t see the whole point of it all of it in reality.  However like a good sport he stuck the plastic card in his wallet and placed the papers if a folder that he tucked away neatly in a drawer. 

Life carried on like it had.  Aside from the fact that Wes walked around with wings coming out of his back, simply because he could.  He was more expressive that way and Travis enjoyed it a bit more than he probably should.  Watching the feathers ruffle, smooth over.  Not only that, but the man became a bit of a housekeeper.  Wes was a magnificent cook, and he just generally liked things to be tidy and organized.  Travis and Mike couldn’t really find much to complain about.

Outside of interacting with the two priests, Wes was still Wes.  He still held his job, and talked with people, and opened up with the church staff.  They all of course had no clue the powerful, once very holy being they had in their presence.  It was kind of nice to know a little secret about Wes. 

“So, what did you do in Heaven?”  Travis asked during their usual lunch together.  Except instead of being about the business of the church, it had turned into more questions about Wes’ past and heavenly things.

Wes blinked at him for a moment, before he swallowed his bite of food.  “I’m assuming you’re asking about my job.” 

Travis nodded.  “Seeing as how I never heard of an angel named Weslfryel before I met you, I think it’s safe to say you weren’t exactly high up in the ranks.”

“You haven’t heard of many of my siblings.”  Wes said with a small grin.  He fixed his gaze on Travis for a moment.  “I wasn’t in the highest ranks, yes, but I wasn’t low either.  I was in the middle, I suppose.  High enough to command a small troop, but low enough to still fight with them.”

“You were a soldier?”  Travis questioned with a grin.

He knew Wes could fight, the Fallen angel had thrown his brother down the aisle of a church, and he had broken up a few fights near the church grounds.  Besides, Wes could be intimidating, he knew just how to carry himself to strike just enough fear into people.  Maybe Travis should a figure he had some sort of Heavenly Military training or something.  As much as he would like to think all angels did was sit around and sing, from his time with Wes, and the whole miracle fiasco that had fallen on him, Travis knew he should expect more.

“Of sorts,” Wes replied.  “There hasn’t been a war in a long time, and there won’t be if no one gets any ideas.  Or as my siblings seem to worry, I start something.  Still when I wasn’t fighting it was a lot of following orders, as I’m sure you’ve figured.”

“You mean you lot didn’t sit around be a heavenly choir all the time.”  Travis teased and Wes laughed.

“No,” Wes chuckled out as his laughter died down.  “It was a lot more armor wearing.”

Travis grinned as he tried to picture Wes in armor.  All that came to mind was Middle Ages type armor, with chest plates and chain-mail, and maybe even wing guards of sorts, all of which he just assumed would be fire shiner than anything on earth.   He found as Wes continued to explain, that Travis was not all too far off.

* * *

“I find it odd that my siblings worry about me corrupting people and leading them down the wrong path.  Yet you’re the ones corrupting me.”  Wes commented lightly as he watched Sutton collect his newly untainted chips.  Sutton let out a loud bark of laughter at the comment.

Travis couldn’t help but snort from behind his beer bottle.  “You’re a fallen angel; I don’t think they care too much.”  Wes gave him a look before he smiled.  

It was their monthly Sin Night, as Travis had dubbed it when Sutton first introduced him to the idea of it.  One night a month they would unwind.  Throw off their collars, and priestly clothing, and forgot to be priests for the night.   They pulled out the playing cards and poker chips Travis had for some reason.  He couldn’t exactly remember if he bought them just for the hell of it, or one of his foster siblings gave it to him as a present.  Either way, he broke them out that night and ‘gambled’ with Sutton over various card games.   They cracked open a few more beers then normal and wasted the night away.  All, of course, they forgave in the morning, so all was right again.  It was the only way to keep themselves sane it felt like.

It wasn’t Wes’ first Sin Night; Travis had talked him into staying once before.  However, it was his first Sin Night as resident of the St. Anthony Rectory, and ousted fallen angel.  Which had explained why he sucked the first time, and hardly got drunk at all.   Travis and Sutton had just given Wes the hardest liquor they owned when had been vodka some Russian man in their parish had given them in thanks for helping him through his hard times.  Wes’ faster metabolism made seem like it was cheap beer, rather than a very high quality brand of Vodka.   At least, he started to get a little tipsy when a little less than half the bottle was gone.

“You need to stop worrying about being corrupted, and focus on winning a few hands.”  Sutton said with a laugh as he dealt out another hand. 

“Says the man who told you two pairs were good, when he had a flush.”  Travis grinned out.  “How dare you pray off a man who hardly knows how to play poker.”

“If I remember correctly the first time he played you conned him out of all his chips.”  Sutton shot back.

“That was different; I thought he was just horrible at poker.”  Travis grinned out, turning to Wes who gave him a glare at the words.

“I _am_ horrible at poker.”  Wes cut in.

“Give it a few months, baby,” Travis grinned out from behind his hand.  “You’ll probably have us eating out of your hand.  Your tell is probably in your wings.”

“My tell?”  Wes asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, when you got a good hand or bad hand, people usually has something that gives them away.”  Travis explained glancing down at his hand, which wasn’t very good, but he doesn’t show it.  “Sutton straightens up when it’s good, and he taps when it’s bad.”

“Marks gets cocky when it’s bad, but he also gets a bit cocky when it’s good too.”  Sutton said leaning over towards Wes who just kind of nods.

“Says you.”  Travis shot back with a cocky grin and Sutton waved him off.

The three played cards into the later hours of the night.  Talking about random things, boosting about their hands, and cursing each other when one of them won.  Laughter filled the whole Rectory.  They drink till they were just a little over tipsy, but not yet drunk, in order to keep playing cards in a reasonable fashion.  Wes managed to get the hang of poker a bit more with each hand, but there was still some luck to it all.  Still it was nice to see him win a few hands only to have his chips stolen away again.

Around 11:30 Travis cleaned Mike and Wes out and ended the game.  Sutton grumbled, demanding that next month they play Black Jack, because that was his game.  He grabbed his beer bottle and hobbled off to bed with a wave of his hand as Travis just laughed at him.   Travis made it clear that wasn’t going to happen, not when there are so many better card games for Wes to learn.  Travis told the older man off eventually with a short good night and more grumbles from Sutton. 

Wes seemed to chuckle at the two of them in their exchange as he sorted the cards back into their case neatly.  Travis doesn’t really notice it until; Wes finished sorting the chips back in their place in the box.  He was starting to collect the empty beer bottles and the empty vodka bottle when Travis turned to him.  The priest watched him titter a bit, grinning with some annoyance that it took a whole bottle of quality Vodka to get him that way.

“Leave them for tomorrow.”  Travis instructed a bit tiredly as Wes started to rinse them out.

“Are you sure?”  Wes asked blinking at him.

“Yeah, we usually work off the hang over.”  Travis said with a grin, watching Wes nod and drop the bottles in his hand in the sink and flick the water off.   “So, how was Sin Night, now that you had an idea of what you were doing?”

Wes is quiet for a few moments as he seemed to search for the right word it seemed.  “It was…fun,” Wes said scratching the back of his neck, “addicting, and kind of perfect.”

Travis smiled at the comment.  “Yeah, that it is.  Though, if we were waging real money, you would not think that.”

“I would probably smite you were you stand.”  Wes said with a smug little look as he slid back into his seat by Travis.  Travis gave him a small smile; he knew the other was just teasing.  It seemed to cause Wes to blush a bit and look down at the table.  He ran his finger along the grain of the table, a nervous habit of his as Travis came to notice.   Sometimes Travis forgets Wes is in love with him, he manages it so well. “The effects of alcohol are not what I expected I must admit.”

“You’re the one who downed the vodka.”  Travis smiled out as Wes looked up at him again.  “Not expecting the dull senses?”

“No, I expected that.”  Wes said with a soft sort of look in his eyes.  “I wasn’t expecting the warm fuzziness.”

Travis made a sound, his blue eyes scanning Wes’ face carefully.  He wasn’t completely sure that was the alcohol, but at the same time maybe it was.  Maybe Wes was some happy drunk.  Part of Travis wanted to get Wes wasted to see, but that might require a whole liquor store, seeing as how after a bottle of vodka, he was still upright and managing to still speak coherently.           

“It might not be all because of the alcohol.”  Travis said smoothly.

Wes raised an eyebrow.  “What do you mean?” 

The priest goes quiet again, watching Wes as he leaned in a bit close like Travis was going to tell him a secret.  Travis smiled for some reason as Wes just kept growing closer.   Before the darker man could think of anything to say, there was something warm on his lips.  As he registered what it was, Wes was pulling away slightly.  Maybe Wes was a brave drunk.  The alcohol made him lower his guards and rational thinking, and all around try shit he normally wouldn’t even think about doing.  Travis blinked at him, then he thought, _fuck it, it’s Sin Night_ , and sprang forward.

It was a lousy reason, but for some reason all Travis cared about, was the fact that he was kissing Wes rather passionately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, sorry it took me forever to get to some Romance. There is more in the following two chapters. I suck at writing this stuff. I apologize. It's coming, bare with me.


	8. Got the Breath Knocked Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after Sin Night and Alex comes with some news.

Travis wakes up feeling warm and nestled in something softer than he could ever imagine.  Wrapped in what smelt like a perfect autumn evening, and a lingering smell of vanilla.  Never in his life had he woken up this comfortable before.  He hummed happily, rolling onto his back; he took a deep breath in, and let out a content sigh.  Then the softness shifted slightly.  Travis’ eyes snapped open.

 

He was met with the sight of muted golden feathers hovering over his face.  He turned sharply to his left as content sigh that is not his came to his ears.  There was Wes, lying on his stomach, cuddling the pillow he was using.  His right wing was hugged close to his back, but its feathers were still pushing against the wall a bit.  He looked content in his sleep, and for once rather peaceful.  Travis, however, can’t help but notice Wes was shirtless, but he was one to talk, seeing as how he is too.

 

A dull throb in his head stirs the memories from the night before.  Sin Night; poker, drinks, and laughter.  Then his talk with Wes at the table, the mindless chat that had had, that seemed to end in Wes kissing him lightly.  God, it made Travis wonder how much the fallen angel actually held back.  It had been so light and barely there.  But then Travis remembered kissing him.  Springing forward and kissing Wes as hard and passionately as he might have had they meant when he was sixteen.

 

It had been amazing.  Maybe that was due the fact that Travis hadn’t kissed a soul like that in years, not since he was ordained.  Or maybe it was just the thrill of it all.  Kissing an angel, the thought alone could send shivers down his spine.    Or maybe it was simply because it was Wes.  With his feverish, practically flawless skin, and eyes that have so much age, yet almost none at all.  It was intoxicating to remember.  The waves of warmth that had rolled off him and the experience he held, while holding none at all.  Just the way he grabbed at Travis was enough to undo the priest, the firm, yet gentle hold of an angel that loved him.  All with that the thought that Wes Fell because he loved him, just made the inner child in Travis explode with happiness and need.  Nothing could ever compare to that.  Nothing could even try.

 

Somehow they had wondered to Travis’ room and shoved off each other’s shirts.  Wes’ wings had materialized as his shirt felt to the floor, wrapping around them as they just continued to be close and kiss.   They toppled unto the bed accidently, causing Wes to grunt in discomfort as his wings were oddly laid on.  For some reason the two of them started laughing, and Travis rolled off Wes to allow him to turn on his side and position his wings accordingly, before he curled up beside the man.  Wes had covered him with his wing and sung them both of to sleep with a lullaby in some old tongue Travis could only wish to understand.

 

Nothing harmful it seemed.  That was judging by the fact that Wes wasn’t being murdered by his siblings for stepping out of line, or rather stepping more out of line.  It took Travis a moment to realize, it didn’t matter to him that he could basically be excommunicated from the church because of this.   He broke is oath, and the fact that the church is so touchy about sexuality in an annoying fashion, he would be out in a heartbeat should anyone find out.  Sutton, of course, wouldn’t say anything should he find out, his opinion on the whole issue is the same as Travis’; love is love there is not helping it.

 

Maybe there is a part of Travis that thinks of Wes more than just a friend.  And maybe it was a rather large part of his being.

 

A groan knocked him out of his thoughts.  Wes stirred from his sleep, peeking up at Travis with an annoyed look in his eyes.  He gave a sigh.  “Does it bother you?”  Wes’ voice is cautious and light, treading carefully.

 

“No,” Travis admitted in a whisper, partly in case someone would hear them and partly because he figured Wes had a bit of a hang over, “not at all, oddly.”

 

A smile bloomed across Wes’ face, filling Travis with warmth.  “Good.”  Wes breathed a bit some relief.  “My father and siblings didn’t strike us dead, so that has to mean something.”

 

“Maybe it just means they let it slide because of the alcohol in our system impaired our judgment.”  Travis said with a small smile. 

 

Wes made an amused sound.  “We’d have to try again to see.”

 

“Yes, we would.”  Travis said rolling back onto his left side and leaning forward to kiss Wes.  The other hummed; his eyes sliding close as Travis pulled away.  He seemed to wait a few seconds before he opened up and glanced at the ceiling.  “I don’t think they care.”

 

“That or someone is giving them a hard case about me.”  Wes grumbled, as he pulled his wing away from Travis.  They disappeared into the tattoos again, before he buried his face in the pillow and faltered a bit.  “Maybe they decide this headache is punishment enough.”

 

Travis couldn’t help but laugh at the comment, feeling slightly bad when Wes cringed at the sound.  “It’s called a hangover, baby.”  Travis grinned out.  “It’s God’s punishment for drinking too much.”

 

“It seems just.”  Wes muttered into the pillow, causing Travis to laugh again as he rolled off his bed. 

 

He pulled a new shirt on tossed Wes’ old one at him on the bed.  “Let’s get some hangover food in you.”  Wes doesn’t seem to complain while he slides on his shirt and watched Travis leave the room.

 

Sutton is there at the table smirking at him from behind a cup of coffee.

 

* * *

 

Despite the fact that Travis had given his consent, Wes still held back on the relationship and gave it some space.  Whither it was out of fear his brother would over react, or just simply didn’t know how to act about it.  Travis didn’t know if angels displayed affections different, or if they even had relationships.  Yet there was a part of Travis that felt it was more cautionary than anything.  Travis is breaking an oath, a sacred oath.  It would be a shit storm if it got out, and it wasn’t something Wes could fix by flaring his wings.  If anything that would cause more of a stir, and get Wes in more trouble with his siblings.  It seemed natural for them to tread carefully to begin with.   Though as Travis thought about it, he wonders if Wes is doing it to protect himself should Travis decide it’s not for the best.

 

It seemed like a smart thing to do.  There were days where the reality of what Travis was doing hit him.  He had sworn himself to a life of guiding and devotion to God.  It wasn’t something he could break easily.  The church had been good to him, and St. Anthony’s had a strong parish.  That all could go away with a simple slip up, all that hard work and dedication, would just be ignored and it all would be gone.  Yet, there is a part of him that feels like Wes is worth it all.  The man had risked everything to save him, he knew it would get him in trouble, but he still did everything to make sure Travis got out without a scratch.  Wes already Fell for him, and Travis probably would have done the same thing.

 

Whatever the reason, Wes keeps him at arm’s length from time to time.  Still he sits a little closer to Travis, not overly close, still enough to seem like friends should someone stumble upon them.  Their flirting is more of bantering or simply arguing over little things.  Kate, one of the staff members of the church, made a comment about how they sounded like some old married couple.  The comments had gone over Wes’ head for the most part, but Travis laughed.  All in all, their actions still came off friendly enough for someone to not raise an eyebrow.

 

Sutton, of course, knew, and he didn’t mind.  He knew what Wes was, and the angel wasn’t forcing Travis into anything, he was the one treading way more carefully than Travis.  Still he warns them to be careful about it.  Wes might be an angel, but only three people knew that, the world would not be so nice to them, past miracle or not.  Emma had given them a hard look when she found out, but she too had accepted it, and slipped Travis the same warning as Sutton.

 

Travis doesn’t think they could be more careful.   There were days when he wished it wasn’t so complicated, prayed even.  Days were Travis wished he wasn’t a priest and they could just dive into it all like everyone else.

 

“For something so basic and easy, you humans make love seem rather complex and difficult.”  A voice said gently to Travis’ left.

 

Travis turned his attention from the alter to the voice, where he found Alex standing there with a soft grin on her face, or rather her vessel’s face.  Wes had told him about her.  The two had been close in heaven, and she was honestly one of the few angels they could trust instantly.  She strolled into the pew and quietly sat down beside him.

 

“I think were wired differently.”  Travis said easily, watching her closely.

 

Alex chuckled at that.  “That is true.” 

 

“What are you doing here?”  Travis asked calmly.  Alex titled her head a bit in question at him, and Travis rolled his eyes.  “You usually don’t pop in to say hi.”

 

She made an amused sound and folded her hands in her lap as she crossed her legs.  “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”  She said easily.  “But I also usually come here when I can for an update, I’m not usually commanded.”

 

“You were ordered here?”

 

Alex gave a nod, turning to at the sound of one of the side doors of opening.  She turned to look as the sound of footsteps bounced off the walls of the rather empty sanctuary.  It wasn’t long before Wes appeared from the other side of the church with a sort of panicked look to him as he slid through the rows of pews to reach them.  He seemed to relax when he noticed it was Alex, but he didn’t once slow down till he reached them.  Travis wondered if he had heard his question.

 

“Alex,” He greeted with a bit of a friendly smile.  “What brings you here?”

 

“Orders from Michael.”  Alex said simply.  Wes went ridged, and Travis turned to her wildly, feeling the dread pool in his stomach.  There was no way that was good.   “It might be better if we talked about this in private.”

 

Wes nodded, “of course.”

 

“You can use my office.”  Travis offered, giving Wes a small smile when the man turned to him sharply.  They both know this probably wasn’t going to be good.

 

Alex made a simple sound of agreement and rose to her feet.  Travis followed in suit before leading the way to his office.   He could only hope by some miracle that it was it good news, or Wes didn’t have to leave.  Travis didn’t mind calling off their relationship, if it could probably be called that.  It was really stolen affections, worrying guilt, and overly friendly activities or outings with crowds.  At least there wasn’t any teenage clichés even though Travis wouldn’t care if they managed to sneak one in.  

 

He glanced back at Wes as they neared his office.  He looked rather emotionally neutral, but Travis can see the slope of his shoulders.  He can almost picture the wings hanging in a sad fashion, or possibly wrapping around him.  The Fallen angel was just accepting that it was bad news; maybe it was a smart think to not hope and just expect the blow.  Alex didn’t even seem to try and comfort him; she just kept a stony expression like what she had to say bothered her too.  As long as Wes didn’t have to leave or die, Travis won’t try to fight whatever Alex had to say.

 

It felt like they reached Travis office too quickly.  The priest opened the door, holding it open as Wes and Alex strolled in.  “So I’ll just leave you here then,” Travis said awkwardly.  He gave Wes a weak look before he moved to leave.

 

“Actually, Travis, this is something for you to hear as well.”  Alex said, turning to Travis.  “See as how you’re involved in this.”

 

He could only blink at her for a moment, but somehow he worked out a small “okay”, before he entered the room and closed the door.  He can’t help but notice Wes has gone almost as rigid as when he first came to St. Anthony’s. 

 

“Why did Michael send you here Alex?”  Wes asked politely, but still rather coldly.

 

Alex gave a grin.  “Your little relationship caused a bit of a stir up in Heaven.  Quite a few archangels were just waiting for Michael to give the order to…put you in your place.”  Alex started out, Wes made a pained sound.  “To be fair, some were willing to argue your case.  Free will is free will.”  She glanced at Travis with a bit of smirk.  He turned glance at Wes, and seemed to be the same way.  “Michael however gave an order no one expected.  He told everyone to leave you be.”

 

“What?”  Wes snapped suddenly.  “Michael basically called it all off?  But that would mean…”

 

“It’s rumored, yes.”  Alex said with a wide grin on your face. 

 

Travis glanced lost between the two, silently demanding to know what in the world was rumored, but Wes let out a breath and sank into a chair.  The blonde seemed to instantly relax.  As far as he was concerned that was good news.  “So Wes is off the hook?”  Travis asked.

 

“Yes, within in reason.”  Alex said, and Travis feels a sort of relief.  “The relationship you have going doesn’t truly break your oath to my father, as it was explained to me.  According to Michael it could help you with the path we have planned should you choose to take it.   Weslfryel can give you insight, and stress the right lessons.”

 

“So Heaven, basically doesn’t have a problem with us?”  Travis asked as he rounded his desk.

 

“It technically never had a problem with our type of relationship has circumstances been different.”  Wes said with a wide grin on his face.  “It’s your human society that does.  But to answer your question, yes.”

 

Travis can’t help the grin that on his lips either.  He turned to Alex, who giving them a soft look, giving him a nod like he was looking to her for confirmation.  “So…”

 

“I believe the phrase is, knock yourselves out.”  Alex said like she knew what Travis was going to ask.  She gave him a look that seemed like a warning to still be careful about it all, and Travis understood what it meant.  Heaven might have given it a green flag, but the Vatican and society might not

 

Apparently Wes had too.  At some point he had sprang to his feet and walked over to where Travis was standing.  He threated their hands together, and smiled when Travis turned to him.  He doesn’t even wait for Travis to kiss him this time.  Travis doesn’t hesitate to return it.  He didn’t think he had ever been happier.

 

 


	9. Heaven Come Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One Year Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All done...no more...-crying-
> 
> Sorry it took a bit to get the chapter up.

“Well, if it isn’t the T-man!”  A voice Travis from his first few months at St. Anthony’s, and that been about five years ago, said.

“Phil!”  Travis said with a grin as he turned around. 

A blonde priest held out his arms laughing as he neared Travis.  Travis hadn’t seen Phil in years, and only really gotten to know him in the first few months of St. Anthony’s.  The man had been the pastor there before, and was showing Travis the ropes before he jumped ship to some church in Beverly Hills.  Phil was a good guy, a bit stubborn, loud, and hard to get accustomed to, but he was still a good priest all in all. He was slightly shorter than the darker man, but he still managed to give him a good pat on the back when they hugged.

“Man, how are things?”  Phil questioned happily.  “I heard about the whole car thing.  Talk about crazy.”

“Things are good, St. Anthony’s never been better, so I can’t complain.  And crazy don’t even being to describe the whole car thing.”  Travis said with a smile as he heard Wes snort behind him lightly.  “You still at that church in Beverly Hills?”

“Nah, I’m working with the bishop now.  Yeah, moving up in the world.”  Phil said with a nod and growing smile.  “I helped organize this whole retreat for everyone.”  He glanced around Travis and seemed to notice Wes standing off the distance.  “Where’s Father Mike?”

“Something came up for Mike.”  Travis said easily, crossing his arms.  Not really, it was more like his sister was in the area and hadn’t seen her in a while.  Besides, he didn’t want to go through the hassle of finding people to cover for them.  Travis turned to Wes was standing there like some sort of third wheel.  “This is Wes Mitchell.  He’s the head of staff at St. Anthony’s.  He’s thinking about going into the seminary, figured he could tag along and see if that’s what he wants.”

“Nice.”  Phil said with a laugh in his voice, he held out his hand for Wes to take, which the other did.  “I’m Father Phil Kronish.”

“Pleasure,” Wes said with an awkward grin, but Phil didn’t seem to notice.

The smaller blonde gave a grin before he led them to a path where they would find their housing for the retreat.  Of course, he managed to chatter about his life a bit and a little about the plans of the three day retreat, before directing them down the path and telling them the time for meals.   Travis gave him a salute as Wes and him started down the slightly grassy path to their lodgings.  Once they vanished from Phil’s line of sight, Wes grabbed Travis’ elbow and leaned in close.

“Didn’t know I was considering joining the seminary.”  Wes said in a hiss. 

“Neither did I,” Travis grinned as he turned to the Fallen angel and gave him a wicked grin.

* * *

For the most part the retreat is uneventful.  Save one evening where Wes disappeared for an hour after dinner to talk with one of his siblings who came to visit him, and attempted to threaten Travis or something.  Wes send her on her way and no one really took notice.  It was like pretty much any other retreat Travis had been too or led otherwise.  There was praying and meditation, scriptural readings, some more praying, discussion, and some free time to think.  The only time anything really fun happened was when it was a youth retreat.  It’s not anything new or revolutionary.  If the system works why change it.  Though some of things Wes said had everyone glancing at each other and nodding at what was said.  Not to mention everyone seemed rather interested in the whole car accident miracle with Travis.  Travis had enjoyed connected with some the other priest, deacons, and nuns that were in the area, either way.  Of course, saying something was uneventful before it was over, pretty much made it become eventful.

Saturday, the retreated had wrapped up mid-afternoon, leaving everyone to their own devices.  Some retired back to their bunks for some leisurely reading, or checking emails.  Some nuns managed to challenge some priests to a small game of kick ball.  Others went on walks or just sort of sat around and talked with each other over things.  They were all free till dinner.

Travis and Wes had gone for a walk themselves.  After an hour or so of walking along paths and off some, they came to a clearing rather far away from the rest of the people at the retreat.  The grass wasn’t overly tall, just tall enough to lie in and disappear, and there was some patches of flowers, despite sounded like some cliché clearing it really didn’t seem like it.  Wes had told him it was worth it when they started the walk, and he had been right.  It was prefect spot for Wes stretch out his wings.  The fallen angel didn’t waste any time flinging off his shirt and materializing his wings once they settled towards the middle of the clearing.

Almost immediately, Wes stretched his wings out to their impressive twenty foot span, something he rarely got to do to begin with.  Granted had his wings out more often, small confines of the rectory at St. Anthony’s did not allow for much movement of Wes’ wings.  Sometimes he would got to the warehouse he use to reside in when he first Fell, just to allow more movement.  Still he rarely had enough space and privacy to spread them out completely.

“Stop staring,” Wes snapped as his wings pulled in towards his back.

“I can’t help it,” Travis grinned as he plopped down onto the grass.  “I don’t get to see all twenty feet of your wing span all spread out very often.  It’s impressive.”  He adjusted his sunglasses and glanced up at Wes who was watching him closely.  “Besides’ they’re nice and shady.”

Wes shot him a glare as he folded his wings loosely on his back.  “I’m not some walking umbrella.”

Travis laughed at the comment, before reclining back on the ground.  He gave a content sigh as he eyes.  It was a nice day out; there was hardly a cloud up in the sky.  A little hot out, but it was bearable, especially sense he wasn’t in his clergy clothes.  Travis had been able to slip into jeans and a t-shirt, Wes was the same.  Still there was a nice breeze from time to time that would sweep through.

It wasn’t long before Wes sat down beside him.  Travis could hear the sound of Wes’ wings moving into a different position so he could sit down, and the small movements of air they created meet Travis’ face nicely.   Of course, Wes manages to shade him in the process, which made Travis grin a bit.  He peeked an eye open, to find Wes resting his head in his hand just watch him.

“Lie down, baby.”  Travis said with a gently. 

Wes lied down eventually.  Lying flat on his stomach due to his wings being out craned his right wing up to still provide shade for the both of them.  He crossed his arms and used them as a pillow for his head.  He grinned at Travis once he settled.

“You know why else this is worth the hour walk?”  Wes asked once he was settled.

“Enlighten me,” Travis said simply.  Wes snorted at the reply.  He leaned to the side to plant a warm kiss on Travis’ lips, causing a wide smile to from there.  “I think this reason is my favorite.”

Travis leaned forward to catches Wes’ lips again, running a hand through the blonde’s short hair pulling him over him as he rolled back onto his back.  Wes gave an amused sound as he followed, his wings fanning out in anticipation.  The Fallen angel’s hands come grab slide along Travis’ t-shirt and guide his free arm to his waist.  Travis runs his tongue along Wes’ bottom lip, giving a gratifying sound as Wes opened his mouth for him.  He let Travis into his mouth, letting the other explore before he pushed him out.  Travis, of course, doesn’t go easily, grinning on the inside at ever moan he managed to milk out of Wes.

His hand on Wes’ waist wandered up his back towards the base of his wings, Wes gave a soft moan at the feeling.  Travis smirked in his head as he fiddled with the feathers at the base of Wes’ wings.  He had learned about the sensitivity in wings there when he was helping Wes clean his feathers, getting the places Wes couldn’t reach, and the man had moaned at the feeling.  The muted gold wings spasmed in reaction to it, and Wes ground his hips into Travis.  The priest gasped in shock at the feeling, leaving just enough opportunity for Wes to slide his tongue down Travis’ throat.  Wes’ right hand slid down Travis’ chest to his waist, snaking some his warm fingers under the waist line.

Suddenly Wes went rigid, using his left hand to shove Travis hand away from the base of his wings, and pulled away just enough.  He shushed Travis before the other could demand to know what was going on.   He uttered something under his breath, before flatting himself as much as he could against Travis.

“What?” Travis whispered sharply at him.

“Listen.”  Wes whispered back just as sharply.

And Travis did.

“What was that?”  A female voice asked.

“Probably just some bird.”  Travis eyes widened when he recognized Phil’s voice.  Wes turned his head to glare at him before Travis could even whisper a curse, much less say anything.  So much for seclusion, and getting in the mood.

“With wings that big?”  Someone else said.

“Well, whatever it was I think we scared it.”  Phil said again.  “Wonder if it’s playing dead.”

“Are you playing dead, Wes?”  Travis whispered with a wicked grin.  Wes’ growl was his only response, Travis chuckled quietly.

“Maybe we should head back to the retreat area.”  Someone suggested.  There were sounds of people agreeing.

Wes seemed to wait till they were out of his hearing range and then some before he actually relaxed and slapped Travis on the chest.  Travis shoved him off him, earning a yelp of surprise from the other, his wings flapped briefly in an attempt to catch himself.  Wes hardly managed it.  His wings shrunk back into his their tattoo form, and he snatched up his shirt for the ground.

“That was close. No thanks to you.”  Wes grumbled as he slid his shirt back on.

“You were the one said it was secluded.”  Travis snapped back “And how is this may fault, you’re the one with the super angel senses.”

Wes turned to him and gave him a sharp look.  “You were touching the base of my wings; you know what that does to me.”  Wes said as he stormed off in the direction the came from.  “I hardly noticed before it was too late.

Travis chuckled as he followed after him.

“Hey, quick question, if they would have come over to investigate what would you have done?”  The look Wes gave him made Travis laugh ten times harder.

* * *

As Sunday couldn’t come to a close fast enough.  Everyone was too busy buzzing about what the little hiking group Father Phil had led had seen to actually get stuff done.  Mostly everyone said it was a bird of some sort, maybe a rare one.  Sister Kendall had sworn to them that it was no normal bird; the wing span was too big.  Wes had gone with some ecstatic, escaped bird, or maybe it had been closer than they thought so the wings seemed bigger.

“That, or maybe it was some angel and their lover.”  Travis commented jokingly when Phil asked him.  Wes looked at him in horror before kicked him in the shin.  Travis was amazed he hadn’t hit it harder, before he kicked Wes in return, but it didn’t seem to have the same effect.  Phil burst out laughing though.  If only he knew how almost true it was.

Of course when it did all wrap up, Wes couldn’t seem happier to get out of there.  They all said goodbyes and went their separate ways.  The car ride home was rather quiet, Wes dosed off at some point.  Wes was still basically a child when it came to cars; it was almost guaranteed he would fall asleep in the car if the trip was longer than an hour.   But he never stayed asleep for longer than thirty minutes, that and he always stirred awake when Travis played something he didn’t like on the radio.  Returning to St. Anthony’s, they came to find Sutton watching some comedy movie.

“How’d the retreat go?”  He asked with a curious grin.

“Fine, though according to Travis, I’ve been thinking about joining the seminary.”  Wes informed.

“Really?”

“Yup, and Wes might have become an urban legend.”  Travis added in with a smirk.

“Can I ask?”  Sutton asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, but you might not like the answer.”  Travis said chuckling at the sharp look Wes gave him.  Sutton held up his hand as a sigh he was good.  “Speaking of which, you owe me that.”  Travis said turning to Wes.

“I don’t owe you anything.”  Wes snapped as he walked towards Travis’ room.  “You were the one who almost blew it.”

“You said it was secluded if I remember correctly.”  Travis snapped starting after him.

They argued the point for a good three minutes before falling into the bed.  Travis woke up with a warm Wes in his arms and a protective wing over him and it was like Heaven on Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> Introduction! I hope you enjoyed, there is more to come, but I don't have a clue exactly what yet.


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